Rail traffic on the Mumbai-Delhi route was disrupted after a fire broke out in the Thiruvananthapuram-Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express in Madhya Pradesh's Ratlam district early Sunday, officials said. According to railway authorities, repair work on the overhead equipment was being carried out on a war footing, and train movement was expected to resume within two hours, according to news agency PTI.
Incident Details
The blaze was reported around 5:15 am between Vikramgarh Alot and Lunirichha stations under the Kota division of the Railways. Officials said the fire started in the B-1 coach of the Delhi-bound train and later spread to the luggage-cum-guard van. The coach, which had 68 passengers on board, was evacuated within 15 minutes. No casualties or injuries were reported.
Impact on Train Services
Kota's Additional Divisional Railway Manager Lakit Kumar Dhurandar, who was present at the spot, told PTI that the movement of 8 to 10 passenger trains was affected due to the incident. "The repair work (on the overhead equipment) is underway on war-footing," he said. As a precautionary measure, the overhead electric supply was switched off and the affected coach was later detached from the rake.
Investigation Underway
Railway officials said the exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained and an investigation is underway. The incident caused significant delays on the busy Mumbai-Delhi corridor, but authorities are working to restore normalcy as quickly as possible.
