The incident took place last night after the train left Chennai junction at 9.25 pm and reached Arakkonam railway junction around 10.30 pm, railway officials said today.
The passengers of one of the coaches noticed smoke emanating from the switch board in their compartment and immediately brought the train to a halt by pulling the alarm chain.
On receiving information, a technical team arrived from Chennai and rectified the fault, which took about five hours, resulting in the delay of the train, which arrived here at 9 am today, the officials added.