Fire breaks out in Lucknow-bound Shatabdi Express at Ghaziabad station, no casualties reported

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: A major fire broke out in the generator car of the Lucknow bound New Delhi-Lucknow Swarn Shatabdi Express at Ghaziabad railway station early on Saturday morning.

The fire was doused with the help of four fire tenders that were rushed to the spot. However, as per the officials, there was no injury to any of the passengers.

The train number 02004 had started at 6:41 am on Saturday from New Delhi and as it reached Ghaziabad Railway station, a smoke was seen emanating from the luggage coach of the train.

As per the sources, the station superintendent was informed of the incident immediately and all the following trains were stopped on respective stations.

The officials of the district fire department said they received a call around 7.04 am informing them about the fire in the train and rushed at least six fire tenders to the spot from the Kotwali fire station, which is located nearby.

The sources claimed that the fire was doused within half an hour after the fire tenders arrived and started operation. The fire was doused after detaching the affected coach from rest of the train. The last coach of the train, which also housed the luggage compartment, was affected.

According to Sunil Kumar Singh, chief fire officer of Ghaziabad, the fire fighters had to cut open one of the gates of the coach while the other was opened manually while dousing the fire. Before starting the operation, overhead electricity supply was disconnected, informed the officer.

According to Singh, the fire might have started in the coach while the train was running as the thick smoke was detected when the train reached Ghaziabad railway station at around 6.50 am.

The senior officials of the Railways also rushed to the spot and said that after dousing the flames, the train was allowed to leave at 8.20am.

They, however, maintained that the fire did not start while the train was moving. However, the railway official expressed suspicion that the inferno might have triggered by a mobike lying in the luggage coach.