Chg: Empty train at railway yard catches fire

Eight coaches of an empty passenger train was gutted in fire at Dongargarh railway station yard in Rajnandgaon district today, police said.
No one was injured in the incident.
Railway and police officials suspect short circuit in the electricity supply as the cause behind the blaze.
"The incident took place in the wee hours today," station manager SG Jakaria said.
He said railway employees noticed fire in two coaches of Gondia-Dongargarh Memu local train, stationed at the yard. The fire soon spread to other compartments.
Jakaria alleged though local fire brigade was informed about the mishap, it was not available for service due to some technical problems.

"Later, fire brigade from Rajnandgaon was called up but unfortunately that too did not reach to the spot on time due to some problem in fire engine," he said.

Finally, fire brigades from Bhilai reached the spot in the morning but till then the fire had engulfed all the eight bogies, he added.
Senior railway and police officials rushed to the spot after the incident.
Inspector General of Police (Railway) Himanshu Gupta informed that prima facie electrical short circuit could be the cause of fire and further probe is on.
The incident disrupted movement of trains on the route.
Services of Dongargarh-Raipur Memu, Raipur-Dongargarh memu local passenger trains were cancelled whereas Itwari-Tata passenger, Samta express, Shivnath express and others on Howrah-Mumbai route were running behind the schedule, sources said.

According to sources, the yard does not have an efficient fire fighting mechanism in place otherwise the loss would have been minimised.