The Indian Railways will take up expeditious installation of three types of fire safety systems on all types of passenger coaches.
The decision to speed up provision of fire-fighting infrastructure on trains was taken in the second week of August.
According to official sources, the Railway Board has directed General Managers of all Zonal Railways to expeditiously complete the process of providing fire and smoke detection system in AC coaches, fire detection and suppression system in pantry cars and power cars and fire extinguishers in non-AC coaches.
Asked whether the ill-fated tourist coach that went up in flames in Madurai killing nine persons recently was fitted with fire extinguishers, a senior official of the Southern Railway said the Commissioner of Railway Safety was probing the circumstances that led to the incident and also the response system.
“It is not clear whether the coach had fire extinguishers. Going by preliminary reports, the shunting staff on noticing the fire emanating from the coach tried to put it off by using fire extinguishers kept in the shunting engine [locomotive]. But the fire was too big to be contained using hand-held extinguishers…four water lorries were deployed to douse the flames triggered by a suspected cylinder blast,” the official who did not want to be quoted said.
Safety check
Parrying questions on whether there was any negligence on the part of the shunting staff in moving the coach with passengers on board to the yard where there were no amenities, the officer said the immediate focus of the investigation was to find out how the LPG cylinder was brought on board for cooking purposes without being noticed by railway officials though the coach was subjected to a safety check on two occasions.
Sources in the Southern Railway said the Chairman Railway Board (CRB)/Chief Executive Officers had called for averting situations where vulnerabilities in infrastructure or negligence of railway staff could cause injury or death of any person. “We should be alert about the possibility of any location on Indian Railway premises getting hazardous where people can get injured. The safety related issues specifically arising out of rains and waterlogging, in colonies, worksites and circulating areas must be addressed,” the CRB was quoted as saying.
