Welding sparks trigger fire in parked sleeper coach at Mumbai railway car shed

Mumbai: Welding sparks triggered a fire in a parked LHB sleeper coach at Central Railway's Matunga car shed on Tuesday afternoon, charring nearly 70% of the roof portion of the coach. No one was injured in the incident, and train services remained unaffected.The blaze was reported at 3.10 pm while repair work was underway near the CSMT-end toilet of the non-AC sleeper coach. According to preliminary findings, sparks from the welding work fell on nearby combustible material, setting off the fire. Fanned by strong winds, the flames quickly spread to the upper section of the coach before the fire brigade brought the situation under control by around 3.55 pm.Railway officials said the coach's underslung equipment escaped damage despite the fire severely affecting the upper portion. An internal inquiry has been initiated to establish the exact sequence of events and examine whether standard safety precautions during maintenance were followed.Since the incident occurred within the car shed premises, there was no disruption to suburban or long-distance train operations.