Major fire on stationary passenger train in Bihar, 2nd incident in two days

A major fire broke out in a coach of the Sasaram-Patna passenger train at Sasaram railway station in Bihar’s Rohtas district on Monday while the train was stationed at the platform, officials said.

Fire brigade personnel and railway officials rushed to the spot soon after the blaze was reported and launched firefighting operations to bring the situation under control. No casualties were reported in the incident.

The incident comes a day after a fire broke out in the Thiruvananthapuram-Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express in Madhya Pradesh’s Ratlam district on Sunday. All passengers from the affected coach were safely evacuated, and no injuries or casualties were reported.

Confirming the fire incident in Sasaram, Railway Protection Force (RPF) Inspector Sanjeev Kumar said there was no information about any passenger being harmed in the fire incident.

“The fire broke out in one coach of the Sasaram-Patna passenger train while it was standing at Sasaram railway station. There is no report of any passenger casualty,” Kumar said.

Officials from the railway administration and fire services remained at the site to assess the damage and ascertain the cause of the fire.

On Sunday, a fire broke out in the Thiruvananthapuram-Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express near Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh, damaging two coaches and disrupting traffic on the busy Mumbai-Delhi rail route for several hours.

While no casualties were reported in the train fire, a van carrying repair equipment to the site later overturned in the district, injuring five railway staffers.

Train services on the Mumbai-Delhi route were severely affected after the blaze damaged overhead electrical equipment. Rail traffic was restored after more than seven hours, even as an investigation into the incident continued.

According to West Central Railway officials, the fire broke out at around 5.15 am in the B-1 coach of the Rajdhani Express between Vikramgarh Alot and Lunirichha stations under the Kota railway division. The luggage-cum-guard van attached behind the coach was also damaged in the blaze.

The affected coach, carrying 68 passengers, was evacuated within 15 minutes, and all passengers were brought to safety, officials said.

Meanwhile, the West Central Railway Zone has constituted a high administrative grade-level inquiry committee to investigate the incident. The panel comprises senior officers from the West Central Railway, the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai, and the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO). The committee is headed by the Principal Chief Safety Officer of the West Central Railway.