Amaravati: Fire broke out on the Yesvantapur-Tatanagar Express near Gollaprolu railway station on Rajahmundry-Visakhapatnam section in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh in the early hours on Tuesday. However, there were no casualties. Officials said the pantry car of the train was gutted.
The fire was noticed at 1.47 am around on the Rajahmundry-Visakhapatnam section of Vijayawada Division when the train was on its way from Yesvantapur in Karnataka to Tatanagar in Jharkhand. An SCR official said on noticing the flames, the train was brought to a halt and the pantry car was detached from the rest of the train to prevent the blaze from spreading. As a precautionary measure, the S-1 coach beside the pantry car was also detached.
A fire engine was rushed to the spot while overhead power supply for electric locomotive was switched off and the train services in both directions were stopped. The train later resumed its onward journey. A coach was attached at Visakhapatnam to accommodate the passengers of the S-1 coach. Officials said normal train movement was restored on Rajahmundry-Visakhapatnam section by 6 a.m.
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.
Gajanan Mallya, general manager, South Central Railway, monitored the situation from SCR headquarters in Secunderabad before air dashing to the spot. He said the train traffic was restored by 6 am., but operation of 11 express trains was affected leading to delayed running, an SCR spokesman said in a statement here on Tuesday.
John Thomas, SCR Additional GM and other senior officials of the Zone remained stationed at the emergency control office at SCR’s Hqrs at Secunderabad to continuously keep a tab on the handling of restoration works, providing relief to passengers to meet their immediate needs and ensure smooth movement of trains which were regulated at various locations in the section. (NSS)
