Minor Fire, Smoke Detected In Vande Bharat Express: Railway Officials

A minor fire broke out in the transformer of a coach of the Vande Bharat Express, sources said today, making it the latest in a series of incidents plaguing India’s fastest train.

No one was injured in the incident.

Even before its first commercial run on February 15, the train’s windows were damaged by stones thrown at it on more than one occasion during its trial runs.

During its first commercial run, it developed snags and broke down twice. On its third commercial run, stones were again thrown at Vande Bharat Express, formerly known as Train 18, breaking one of its window panes.

“A minor incident had occurred on board Vande Bharat Express yesterday. Smoke was reported,” a railway spokesperson said.

On Wednesday, during its return journey to New Delhi, a signal went off at 7:04 pm after the train reached Kanpur Central railway station.

A minor fire was detected in the transformer of C-7 coach, the temperature of which was found to be 90 degrees centigrade, sources said.

“After extinguishing the fire and isolating the transformer by the maintenance staff, the train was allowed to leave,” said a source.

The train was stranded at Kanpur station for around 25 minutes.

Barely ten minutes later, it stopped again at 7:39 pm at Govindpuri railway station after smoke was reported from the same coach.

“The maintenance staff again checked and found that the smoke was of the powder of the fire extinguisher that has been used to extinguish fire at Kanpur,” the source said.

The train left the station at 7:45 pm.

The semi-high speed train was flagged off from New Delhi Railway Station by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 15, while commercial operations began on February 17