Rajdhani catches fire, just 2 minutes before rollout...
GRP Officer Spots Smoke As Whistle Goes Off...
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Rupak Banerjee TNN
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NARROW ESCAPE: The luggage rake which caught fire was packed with cigarette cartons and other inflammable goods
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Howrah: Hundreds of passengers on the Rajdhani Express had a narrow escape on Tuesday afternoon when fire broke out in the luggage rake, packed with cigarettes and inflammable goods.
The all-clear whistle had blown for the train to roll out at 4.48pm when smoke started billowing out of the SLR rake, triggering panic among passengers and relatives who had come to see them off. A disaster was narrowly averted, thanks to the alertness of a GRP officer and because the railways threw everything it had into the firefight, but it exposed the laxness in security and surveillance at one of the busiest stations in the country.
“Had the train started, the wind would have fanned flames into passenger coaches and engulfed the entire train in no time,” said a railway official.
The train was on platform 9. Assistant sub-inspector Satyanarayan Yash, who was running last minute checks, spotted the first wisps of smoke just when the motorman blew the first whistle. “There was hardly any time. The train was to leave in two minutes. I ran to the engine and asked the motorman to stop the train,” said Yash. The motorman informed the control room and within a minute or two every railway employee in the vicinity and every equipment had been marshaled for the firefight.
Announcements were made on the public address system, asking passengers not to panic. Four fire-tenders arrived but could not be put to use because the access paths created during British times specifically for such an eventuality have been barricaded off. Smaller fire tenders were brought it and they joined the fight at 5.10pm. Passengers’ relatives came rushing back