A fire was discovered in a coach of train number 12204 Amritsar–Saharsa Garib Rath Express on Saturday morning. Fortunately, no casualties have been reported. The incident took place at Sirhind Station in Punjab, which is part of the Northern Railway zone. According to railway officials, the train continued its journey safely at approximately 10:39 hrs.
Authorities reported that the event occurred around 7:22 am when a fire erupted in the 'G-19' AC coach as the train was moving past Sirhind station. The train was not scheduled to stop at Sirhind and was heading towards Ambala Cantt. The Government Railway Police (GRP), Northern Railway personnel, and local fire services acted quickly to avert a significant disaster.
Rattan Lal, the Station House Officer of GRP Fatehgarh Sahib, stated that preliminary investigations suggested the fire might have been caused by an electrical short circuit, as there was no evidence of explosives or flammable substances at the scene. To minimize the damage, three impacted coaches, including the one that caught fire, were promptly separated from the rest of the train.
He stated, "Once the incident was observed, the Railway authorities promptly took action by relocating passengers to different coaches and swiftly putting out the fire. There have been no reported casualties. The train is expected to continue its journey to its destination soon. Although the flames have been extinguished, the fire extinguishing team, equipped with three fire tenders, remains on site as some smoke persists. We are conducting an additional search inside the burned coach G - 19 to ensure no passengers remain inside."
In addition to the GRP escort on the train, rail attendant Amandeep Singh was instrumental in stopping the train by pulling the chain and relocating passengers to a different coach when the G-19 bogey caught fire. Subsequently, our teams arrived at the scene to rescue passengers, including taking a female passenger to the hospital.
Train operations were halted temporarily for maintenance and safety checks, resulting in passengers being left waiting for hours. Officials stated that the situation was managed, and a thorough investigation has been initiated to determine the precise cause of the fire.