Bengaluru train fire: Yeswantpur-Tatanagar Express catches fire in AP; pantry car gutted

A major fire broke out in the pantry car of a train that was travelling from Bengaluru to Jamshedpur on late Monday night. The incident reportedly occurred in Andhra Pradesh's East Godavari district. Fortunately, no injuries or casualties from the incident have been reported at the time of filing the report.

However, the pantry car of the train, the Yesvantpur-Tatanagar Superfast Express, was gutted in the fire. The origin of the fire, which broke out at around 2 am, is yet to be ascertained.

As the flames engulfed the bogie, the staff separated the pantry car, stopping the fire from spreading to the other bogies of the train. A few commuters pulled the chain to alert the railway personnel.

Visuals from the spot shared on Twitter show the entire pantry bogie was charred and an adjacent coach got partially damaged due to massive flames.

According to the South Central Railway (SCR) spokesman, on noticing the flames, the train was immediately brought to a halt and the pantry car was detached from rest of the train to prevent the blaze from spreading. For precaution, the S1 coach adjacent to the pantry car was also detached and a coach was attached at Visakhapatnam to accommodate the passengers of the S1 coach.

Due to the fire, trains in the Vijayawada-Vizag sector were delayed. The trains, which were delayed, include Secunderabad-Howrah Falaknuma Express, Yesvantapur-Howrah Duronto Express, Tirupati-Puri Express, Hyderabad-Visakhapatnam Godavari Express, Chennai Central-Puri Express, Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam Duronto Express, Secunderabad-Bhubaneswar Visakha Express.

The railway officials and police and are currently at the spot and have launched a probe, to ascertain the exact reason for the fire.

OTHER INCIDENTS

Back in 2018, 52 people died and at least 72 were injured after a train ran into crowds at Joda Phatak crossing in Amritsar, Punjab, where a large number of people had gathered to watch Ravan effigy burning on Dussehra evening. Before the train drivers could react, many people came under the wheels.

Another incident happened in Chandigarh where the front coach of Kalka-Howrah train caught fire while running. Six passengers were admitted to hospital after they faced breathlessness.