Shimla bound toy train engine catches fire, passengers safe

A fire broke out in the engine of Shimla bound train Himalayan Queen Express on Tuesday afternoon, disrupting the movement of toy trains on the heritage track. There were around 200 passengers in seven coaches of the train when the incident took place. All the passengers are safe.

According to sources, the fire broke out due to a technical snag which led to the burning of electrical wires resulting in willowing out of the smoke from inside the engine coach between Dharampur and Kumarhatti stations in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh.

The train was brought to a halt immediately by the alert driver following. The information was immediately passed on to the railway control office. The fire was extinguished within 20 minutes by the loco pilot, guard and ticket examiner (TTE) of the train with the help of fire-fighting equipment.

Fire brigade from Dharampur and Solan were also rushed to the spot, but the railway staff had already doused the fire when the fire brigade team reached.

The Delhi bound passengers, who got stranded due to fire, were connected to Kalka-Delhi Sarai Rohilla Himalayan Queen (14096) and Kalka-New Delhi Shatabdi Express (12012) after the affected train was pulled to Kumarhatti.