3 bogies of stationary Silchar-Trivandrum Express gutted in Silchar

A major fire on Sunday burnt three coaches of the Silchar-Trivandrum Express train while stationary at station in Silchar, the main city in southern Assam adjoining Tripura, officials said.

No one was hurt in the incident. The Trivandrum bound Express train, which arrived here at midnight on Saturday, was scheduled to leave Silchar station at 8.05 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

According to police officials, the fire broke out on Sunday morning from a sleeper class compartment adjacent to the pantry car of the train at Silchar station, 380 km northeast of the state capital.

"Initially, the railway personnel tried to douse the fire with fire extinguishers. But soon the fire spread to two nearby compartments including a chaircar coach, resulting in three compartments being guttied, before fire tenders came to the station and controlled the blaze," the official said.

He said that the train caught fire an hour before the Silchar-Agartala train was scheduled to leave for Tripura. "The station manager noticing the fire quickly shifted the passengers packed in the Silchar-Agartala train to another platform."

All the coaches of the train were locked when the train caught fire. There is no report of any death or injury in the incident. Railway authorities are probing the cause of the fire.

--IANS

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