Mumbai:
It was a journey of horror for the passengers of Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani Express whose four coaches caught fire early Monday morning.
"It was a horror I would never forget. My family and I jumped out of the burning train amid leaping flames and thick smoke," said Satya Vir Singh, a passenger of the train. Singh, his wife and two children were in B-7 coach of the train which was one of the ill-fated coaches that had caught fire between Alot and Thuriya stations in Ratlam district at around 3 am.
Singh, whose luggage was completely gutted, said "Collecting luggage was not our priority that time. I alerted my wife and children who were sleeping and asked them to get out of the coach immediately."
Another passenger Bahadur Mistry, who with his group of 34, was going for an adventure tour to Shimla, Chandigarh and Manali, said, "We all jumped out one after another from the train. There was smoke everywhere. So, we lost not time in getting out."
The fire completely destroyed two bogies of the Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani Express. All the 1,100 passengers on board are however safe, the officials said. "Preliminary investigation suggests that short-circuit might have caused the fire in B-6 and B-7 coaches and the pantry car," said Ravi Mohan Sharma, Ratlam Divisional Commercial Manager.
"The two coaches B-6 and B-7 were fully damaged, while B-5 and the pantry car suffered minor damage. Fire tenders were rushed to the spot from Ujjain and Ratlam," he added. Railway authorities have announced ex-gratia of Rs 5,000 each for the 144 passengers in B-6 and B-7 coaches.
Sharma said that Commissioner, Railway Safety (Central Circle) has started a probe into the incident and the report would be submitted to the Railway Board in seven days. Western Central Railway (WCR) Chief Public Relations Officer, Piyush Mathur said that after the affected coaches were detached, the train left for Delhi at around 8.20 am on Monday.
Rail traffic was disrupted in the Nagda-Kota line for some time due to the incident, he added. Helplines have been set up at Kota, Ratlam and Mumbai to provide information about the incident. Recounting the early morning horror, Shroff, another member of the 34-member tourist group, said the incident has not deterred them from going ahead with their journey.
"Though we have lost much of our luggage in the fire, we are not cancelling our onward journey," he said. Like Shroff and Singh, many other passengers recounted their traumatic experiences at New Delhi station after the Rajdhani Express reached the national capital at 3.25 pm, more than seven hours behind schedule.
"I was woken up by the commotion. Without wasting time, I came out of the coach. The place where we disembarked was quite deserted," said Astha, a passenger in B-9 coach. "Though there was no fire in my coach, I could see the burning coaches in front of me and it was a fearful sight," she said. Praveen Khurana, a resident of Subhash Nagar in the Capital, was fast asleep in B-6 coach when the fire broke.
"Railway staff knocked at our coach from the outside and asked us to come out. Fire brigade came after one hour." However, Khurana said "People from the surrounding villages were very helpful as they provided water to douse the fire." "There was no time to collect luggage. We received Rs 15,000 from railways as compensation but my loss was about Rs 80,000," said another passenger Heema Talati, who was in the coach near the pantry car with her two children. "I am happy that we jumped out of the coach in time," she added.