Fire guts five coaches of train in Ahmednagar district, no casualties

Five coaches of a diesel-electric multiple unit (DEMU) passenger train were gutted in a fire that broke out near Narayandoh station in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district on Monday afternoon, but no casualties were reported, Railway officials said.

The fire incident took place when the train (No. 01402) was heading to Ahmednagar in western Maharashtra from Ashti station in Beed district in the central region of the state, but its cause was not immediately known, they said.

Dr Shivraj Manaspure, Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO), Central Railway, told PTI that no passenger was injured in the blaze, which started at around 3 pm, as all of them alighted safely from the train before the fire spread.

"All train passengers got down safely before the fire spread," he stated.

The flames engulfed the guard-side brake van and four coaches adjacent to it, said the CPRO.

Manaspure said fire engines from Ahmednagar, located around 250km from Mumbai, were immediately called and the flames doused by around 4.10 pm.

An Accident Relief Train (ART) was also sent to the site from Daund station in Pune district, he said.

The section where the incident occurred is part of the Ahmednagar-Parali line of the Central Railway.