One coach of an empty local train was charred in a fire at Titwala in the early hours of Saturday. The source of the fire is not known yet.
One coach of an empty local train was charred in a fire at Titwala in the early hours of Saturday. The source of the fire is not known yet.
The fire in the train, which was parked for the night, was noticed by the loco-pilot of the Nandigram Express that was headed towards CST, who then informed the control room.
Central Railway (CR) public relations officer A.K. Singh said, “Currently, we don’t know how the fire started; the fire brigade was called but the fire went out by then. A committee has been constituted to investigate the origin of the fire.”
An officer requesting anonymity said, “The boundary walls around most of these sidings do not exist, so it is easy for homeless people to get in and start a fire to keep themselves warm.”
Earlier, a fire occurred twice in 2014. A local train and a semi-local train that plies between Mumbai and Lonavla was charred in the incident.
“The fires seem to happen in parked trains along far-flung suburbs of the CR, where there are very few structure such as a car shed where these trains can be parked safely for the night,” added the official.
The CR has a siding to park trains at Vadala Road and another at Sanpada, along the Harbour line. Officials maintained that the CR, unlike the Western Railway (WR), is relatively unplanned in its parking layout.
