A major tragedy was averted after fire was spotted in an air-conditioned (AC) coach of the Durg-Puri Express near Khariar Road in Odisha’s Nuapada district, said officials on Friday.
The AC coach caught fire due to certain glitches in the brake shoe at around 10 p.m. Thursday, the East Coast Railway (ECoR) officials said.
The Puri-Durg Express train (No.18426) at Khariar Road station arrived at 10.07 p.m. The brakes were not released after the alarm chain pulling. The brake pads of B3 coach caught fire due to friction, the officials said.
Alert railway officials immediately responded and extinguished the fire before it could spread.
The fire was confined to the lower portion of the coach and there was no other damage reported. After the problem was rectified, the train departed the station at 11 p.m., the officials informed.
At least four train incidents have been reported in the state of Odisha only during the last seven days.
At least 288 people died and over 1000 were left injured after Chennai-bound Coromandel Express, Howrah bound SMVP-Howrah Superfast Express and a good train were involved in a major accident near the Bahanaga Bazar railway station in Odisha’s Balasore district on June 2 evening.
On June 6, the passengers of Sikandrabad-Agartala train deboarded at Berhampur railway station in Odisha after detecting smoke in an AC coach.
On June 7, stationed rakes of a goods train ran over eight labourers, near Jajpur-Keonjhar Road station, in which six were killed and two others seriously injured.
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