Shimla-bound Himalayan Queen's engine catches fire; probe ordered

The engine of a Shimla-bound Himalayan Queen toy train caught fire between Dharampur and Koti railway stations in Himachal Pradesh's Solan district Tuesday afternoon, railway officials said.

About 200 passengers travelling in the five reserved and two general coaches of the Himalayan Queen Express are safe, Ambala Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Dinesh Chandra Sharma told PTI.

"We got the information of the fire at around 2.15 pm and it was put out within about 15 minutes," he said.

The exact cause of the fire is not yet clear, Sharma said, adding that there might be some electric or mechanical fault behind it.

He said a technical inquiry has been ordered into the incident and Senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer Deepak Goel would conduct the probe to ascertain the exact cause of the fire.

 

The Himalayan Queen toy train runs on a narrow gauge track between Shimla and Kalka daily. As per its timing, it starts from Kalka in Haryana at 12.10 pm and reaches Himachal Pradesh's state capital Shimla at 5.30 pm.

However, due to the fire in the engine, it is expected to reach 3.15 hours late at Shimla at around 8.45 pm, Shimla Station Superintendent Prince Sethi told PTI.

Later, in a press note issued by the Railways Department stated that prima facie it was found that the engine developed a technical snag due to burning of electrical wires leading to willowing out of smoke from inside the engine room between Dharampur and Koti stations.

The train was immediately brought to halt by the alert crew and guard without delay and they informed the control and officers immediately, the press note added.

With the help of fire-fighting equipments, the fire was extinguished within about 15 minutes by loco pilot, guard and ticket examiner (TTE) of the train.

However, eyewitnesses said some passengers and people residing in the nearby areas also helped a lot in putting out the fire.

The press note stated that the passengers were also cautioned by them.

Due to prompt and accurate planning by control office, the train was pulled to Kumarhatti expeditiously restoring traffic on the section at 3.30 pm.

Suitable award to the staff who exhibited high sense of alertness in handling the situation would be given by the railway administration, the note added.