RAJPURA (Patiala district): Four coaches of the Karmabhoomi Express caught fire near Sarai Banjara railway station, between Sirhind and Rajpura in Punjab, on Friday, triggering panic among passengers before the train was stopped and evacuated. No casualties or injuries have been reported so far.

Source: The Daily Jagran

The train, No. 12508, runs from Amritsar to New Jalpaiguri. Northern Railway's Chief Public Relations Officer Himanshu Shekhar Upadhyay told news agency ANI that information was received about a fire in four coaches of the express near Sarai Banjara station in the Ambala division, and that the train stopped due to the timely functioning of its safety system while the fire was being brought under control.

According to preliminary reports carried by The Daily Jagran, the fire was first reported in the fifth coach behind the engine, and visuals from the site showed thick plumes of smoke rising near Basantpura, about 15 kilometres from Rajpura. Railway staff detached the burning coaches to stop the blaze from spreading to the rest of the train.

GRP SHO Gurpreet Singh told Jagran that, preliminarily, the incident was caused by a short circuit in a fan in one of the compartments. This is an initial assessment, not a final finding; the exact cause is yet to be established.

Upadhyay said all senior officials had reached the spot and that there was no information about anyone being injured, any casualties, or other damage in the incident. Emergency personnel, ambulances and fire tenders were rushed to the location, and reports said the local administration arranged vehicles to take passengers to Rajpura railway station.

Reports said the Railways has ordered a high-level inquiry to establish the cause of the blaze. Further details on damage to the coaches and on the train's onward movement are awaited.