Kolkata, Feb. 12 -- A fire scare on a stationary train at Sealdah Station caused panic among commuters early Wednesday morning. However, Eastern Railway (ER) authorities assured that there was no fire and no safety breach.
The incident occurred around 4:15 am when sparks were observed on the pantograph of the first coach as it contacted the overhead wire. Passengers at the station also reported seeing smoke coming from the train. Fortunately, the train was totally empty at the time. Diptimoy Dutta, ER spokesperson, said there was no cause for alarm. "This was a routine occurrence of flashing at the pantograph and no fire was reported in any of the train coaches. There was also no compromise to safety," he said. Dutta explained that the train, an empty EMU rake, had been stabled at Platform 5. The pantographs are typically lowered overnight, but early this morning, during charging, a flash occurred in one of its pantographs. It is believed that foreign objects may have become entangled with the pantograph, causing the sparks.
ER authorities stated that the rake was not scheduled for service at the time of the incident and there was no disruption to train movement.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.