Stationary train coach catches fire in Yeshwantpur

A coach of a statonary express train caught fire at Yeshwantpur railway station on Monday noon.

The Yeshwantpur railway police and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) rushed to the spot and doused the fire. There was nobody inside the train when the incident took place, said the police.

According to eyewitnesses, the Bhubaneswar-Yeshwantpur Superfast Express arrived at the station around 11.30 am. Some time later, it was shifted to platform number 2.
A few persons noticed a thick cloud of smoke emanating from the S8 coach around 2.30 pm. They immediately alerted the railway police.

“We managed to enter the coach. Two sleeper class berths were on fire. Our men brought a few containers of water and doused the fire immediately with assistance from RPF men,” said a police officer.

An electric short circuit led to the fire. The incident did not affect services of other trains. The coach was later moved out of the track for servicing, added the police.

However, Railway officials played down the incident and said that two vacant rakes of the Yeshwantpur-Bhubaneshwar Express had caught fire mysteriously when they were parked in the stable after all the passengers had alighted.

The Divisional Railway Manager Anil K Aggarwal said, “It was a minor fire and both the rakes were empty and were parked in the stable at that time. Nobody got hurt in the incident. The fire was doused within minutes,” he said. He said the reason for the fire is still unknown.