Days after a triple-train tragic accident in Odisha, a fire was spotted in an air-conditioned coach of Durg-Puri Express in the Nuapada district, causing panic among passengers, the East Coast Railway said in an official statement.
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“Smoke was detected in the B3 coach of the train as the train reached the Khariar Road station on Thursday evening. The brake pads caught fire due to friction and incomplete release of brakes. The fire was confined to brake pads. There was no damage,” the statement read.
The East Coast Railways informed that the problem was rectified in less than an hour and the train departed the station at 11 pm. No casualties were reported from the incident, however, it created panic among passengers and most of them rushed out of the train.
This came days after one of the worst train tragedies in the country at the Bahanaga Bazar station in Odisha’s Balasore district, which claimed over 270 lives and left more than 1,100 people injured after a crash involving Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, and a goods train.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is currently investigating the Odisha train accident. The central agency was handed over the investigation as the Ministry of Railways was suspected tampering with the electronic interlocking system.
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The preliminary investigation concluded that a “signaling error” has caused the Odisha train accident. However, a senior Indian Railway official has disagreed with certain findings of the five-member inquiry committee.
Senior Section Engineer A.K. Mahanta gave a dissenting note to the report and said that the ‘datalogger’ report concludes that the signal was green for the main line, not the loop line.
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“Based on observations from the data logger report the point was set for the normal side (main line). It may be reserved after derailment (sic),” he said.
The Indian Railways has maintained that disagreements among the members during the preliminary stage of the investigation are common and something conclusive will only be revealed after a full inquiry by the commissioner of rail safety.
