Chennai | A moving goods train carrying diesel caught fire on Sunday at Tiruvallur in northern Tamil Nadu severely affecting train services on the arterial Chennai-Arakkonam rail route, which also links Chennai with Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, officials said.
No casualties were reported. Passengers were, however, stranded in several places and state transport corporation operated special buses to cater to the needs of the travelling public.
The fire was doused after a nearly 10-hour battle.
AIADMK chief, leader of opposition, Edappadi K Palaniswami demanded railway authorities to conduct a high-level probe to ascertain the cause of the fire.
According to a railway official, derailment may have triggered the fire. However, the cause is not clear yet and it would be ascertained by following relevant norms, he added.
According to the Southern Railway's official release, few intermediate wagons of the goods train, carrying diesel caught fire while exiting Tiruvallur railway station at around 5.30 AM and many other wagons (3rd from engine onwards) also derailed and 18 wagons were gutted.
The official said each wagon had about "54 tons of fuel" and approximately 900 tons of diesel may have been consumed by fire as officials of a PSU oil and gas corporation pitched in to remove fuel from wagons that caught fire.
The goods train was from Chennai Harbour to Walajah Road Siding (Walajabad). The huge fire, coupled with many columns of dark black smoke, reached the skyline.
State Minister (Minorities and Non Resident Tamils Welfare) S M Nasar, alongwith officials, made an inspection and in view of the blaze and smoke, people living close to the location of fire accident were taken to shelters. State transport corporations operated over 170 special services as train services were hit.
The Railway said: "Upon noticing the fire in 3rd wagon, the loco pilot immediately applied the emergency brakes and Station Master, Tiruvallur, switched off the overhead (OHE) power supply as a precautionary safety measure."
Further, the railway said: "However, by the time the train was brought to a
halt, the fire spread upto 19th wagon. Consequently, train operations in the important Chennai – Arrakonam section, linking Chennai with Bangalore, Kerala and Renugunta/Tirupati had to be suspended.
Twelve Mail/Express trains scheduled to commence from or terminating at Chennai Central were cancelled, and several other trains were either diverted or short-terminated."
Top railway officials monitored the rescue and restoration operations in
coordination with the district administration, NDRF and Fire and Rescue Services. "Residents in the vicinity were evacuated as precautionary measure, though there has been no injury to any person."
As many as 30 unaffected wagons and the locomotive were safely detached and isolated from the accident site. Eighteen wagons were gutted and "four trailing wagons were safely removed from the incident zone."
As a precautionary measure, all EMU local train services in the Chennai-Arakkonam section were temporarily suspended. Services were also rescheduled.
While partial restoration of services will be over by midnight, it will be fully restored early on Monday, the official added.
