Silchar railway station woke up with three bogies of one of its train burning on a sleepy Sunday morning.
The train, Silchar-Thiruvananthapuram Express, the second longest distance running train in the country, which reached Silchar station on Saturday evening, was placed in platform number four. The fire started from the pantry car at 7:45 am in the morning and slowly moved on to two other sleeper class bogies in a very short span of time.
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Before the fire brigade and SDRF teams could reach the spot, localites and railway authorities residing nearby, tried to douse the flames with water sprays fitted to water pumps and fire extinguishers.
Only after the fire and emergency services team reached the spot, the situation came under control and a major catastrophe could be averted. The railway authorities immediately unhooked the three bogies from this train.
Talking to Northeast Now one eyewitness said, “We could see smoke coming out of the pantry car which was shut and in no time the fire started spreading thick and fast. We tried our level best to douse the flames, but, were unable to control it. With small hose pipes we kept doing our bit but only after the fire brigades arrived, the situation came under control.”
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The railway authorities have started an investigation into the whole matter. “The fire must have started from the leakage from some cooking gas cylinder in the pantry car. No lives have been lost, but, three of our bogies have been completely damaged,” said a railway official on condition of anonymity.