A fire broke out in the rear engine of the Siliguri Junction-Malda Town DEMU when the train reached near the Gaisal station in North Dinajpur district on Tuesday.

Two fire engines reached the spot and doused the flames. Senior railway officials reached the spot. The railway authorities have started a probe into the incident.

Sources said when the train was near the north cabin of the Gaisal station around 2pm, a railway employee who was on board spotted the flames in the rear engine. He informed the loco pilot about the fire, and the latter passed on the information to the guard.

The train was stopped and passengers were asked to disembark. Soon, the fire engines and Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel and a team from the Islampur police station reached the spot.

“While entering the Gaisal station, I saw the fire and informed others. The train was stopped soon, and we could safely evacuate all passengers. They were taken to the railway platform while fire engines worked on the spot,” said Rajesh Bharati, the
train manager.

After an hour, the fire engines managed to douse the blaze.

The New Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express was halted at the Gunjaria station because of the fire. Some other trains were stopped at the Kishanganj station. After a couple of hours, train movement resumed along the route.

“I was travelling to Malda. When we reached near Gaisal, I heard some passengers shouting at the top of their voices. Soon, I saw some railway employees telling us to get down from the coach. I got down and learned that the rear engine had caught fire,” said Harinath Chaturvedi, a passenger.

Later in the day, Surendra Kumar, the divisional railway manager of the Katihar division of the Northeast Frontier Railway, visited the spot. “We are trying to find out what led to the fire. The train has been taken away from Gaisal for examination. Arrangements have been made for passengers who were stuck at the station because of the fire,”
he said.