Vande Bharat Train Has "Very Good" Fire Safety Arrangements: Official

Railway Board chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti on Sunday allayed fears about fire safety in Vande Bharat Express trains, saying that these semi-high-speed trains have "very good" arrangements on this front.

He was talking to reporters days after a blaze erupted in the battery box of a coach of the Vande Bharat train heading from Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal to New Delhi. The incident occurred on July 17, in which nobody was injured.

"There are no concerns regarding the safety of passengers in the Vande Bharat trains. There are also very good arrangements for fire prevention in these trains," Mr Lahoti told reporters here.

The fire that broke out in the Bhopal-Delhi Vande Bharat train was confined to the battery box only. As good safety arrangements were in place, the blaze was extinguished before it could spread, he said.

When asked about the Indore-Bhopal Vande Bharat train to find a few takers, Lahoti said they were taking a review of the issue and would find a solution.

The ticket fares of these trains are uniform across the country, he said, adding that the seat occupancy in them was more than 95 per cent.

The Railway Board chairman was in Indore to attend a meeting convened to review the rail projects in and around Indore. 

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