Delhi Metro coach catches fire at Patel Nagar station

NEW DELHI: A number of

Delhi Metro commuters

had a narrow escape on Thursday when fire was detected in a train on the Blue line at around 4pm. The incident, which resulted in wide-spread panic amongst passengers on the ill-fated train, was detected on top of the last coach of a six-coach train which had stopped at Patel Nagar metro station. The billowing smoke from the fire was first detected by commuters who alerted the driver immediately. However, the passengers could only be evacuated at the next station, Rajendra Place, a distance of 2km approximately. The Blue line is the Dwarka sector 21 to Noida/Vaishali corridor.

Incredibly, there are no fire or smoke detectors on board the phase I or phase II trains. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) officials admitted that the upcoming phase III trains will be fitted with fire detectors, though the existing trains in the network don’t have such equipment. Speaking about the lack of such measures, director (operations) of Delhi Metro, Sharat Sharma, said, “There is no way that fire can spread in the train as it is made of fire retardant, low smoke and zero halogen material. According to Sharma, the trains are designed so that fire doesn’t spread. “Since the train is zero halogen, the smoke is non-toxic. The only reason the smoke entered the coaches was because it got re-directed from the roof to the inside through fans,” he added.

Central Industrial Security Force personnel deployed at the station were the first responders followed by the staff of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and other agencies concerned, who were later roped in. According to the officials, the smoke had started coming out of an AC duct on the roof of the last coach of the six-coached train, as it started leaving Patel Nagar station for Vaishali.

As the train moved, the smoke increased and started entering inside the coach, which led to panic among commuters. Horrified, they raised an alarm and alerted the driver who in turn conveyed the same to the authorities at the next station, which was Rajendra Place. DCP Metro, Jitender Mani said that none of the passengers were injured in the incident and the situation was brought under control in time.

In a statement, the Delhi Metro said that the smoke emission was detected in coach M3B10 from the roof top due to a “probable fault in the control circuit in line 3 (Blue line) at Patel Nagar. “Some part of the smoke travelled through the HVAC duct inside the car and caused panic amongst the passengers. All passengers were safely evacuated without any injury to anyone. The train will be taken to the Yamuna Bank depot for further investigation.”

Witnesses said that the moment the train stopped at the platform, the scared passengers rushed out of the coach screaming for help. Vidhan Sonkar, who was travelling in a train in the opposite direction and got down at

Rajendra Place station

seeing the unusual crowd, said, “The platform was overcrowded and some commandos were deployed. The train had been vacated but there was still a lot of smoke. After about 10 to 15 minutes the train was moved away,” he said.

Adequate deployment of the CISF was ensured to manage the crowd at the platform and the coach that was on fire was completely cordoned. Five fire tenders had also reached the station to contain the fire. After the fire was controlled, the train was removed and route was cleared and the operations were normalised in time, said the officer.

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