Fire in Bhopal-Delhi Vande Bharat train, no casualty

A fire broke out in the battery box of a coach of the Vande Bharat train heading from Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal to New Delhi on Monday morning, a senior railway official said.

There were 37 passengers in the coach and they were shifted to other coaches immediately. No injury was reported to anyone in the incident, the official said.

The fire was later doused and repairs were conducted. The train resumed its onward journey after remaining halted for more than three hours, the official said.

The Rani Kamalapati-Hazrat Nizamuddin Vande Bharat Express train started at 5.40 am from Bhopal, West Central Railway's chief public relations officer Rahul Shrivastava said.

"When it was passing through Kalhar station, the station manager noticed smoke billowing out from the battery box of the C-14 coach following which he alerted senior officials and the train was stopped at Kurwai-Kaithora station, the official said in a statement.

Fire brigade personnel extinguished the blaze by 7.58 am, he said.

The battery box is located quite far away from the passenger area under the coach, the official said.

As soon as the fire incident took place, the electrical safety system separated batteries from it. The batteries were removed and the fire was extinguished, he said.

After the railway staff conducted the repair work, the train resumed its onward journey at around 10.15 am, officials said.

Senior Congress leader and former leader of opposition in the MP assembly Ajay Singh, who was also travelling in the train to Gwalior, said the train stopped as soon as the fire was noticed.

"People got down to see what happened. All passengers are safe. The train resumed its journey after remaining stranded for nearly three-and-a-half hours," Singh told PTI over phone.

On April 1 this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the Vande Bharat train between Rani Kamalapati station here to Hazrat Nizamuddin.

The train runs for six days in a week except Sundays.