PATIALA: Around 1,500 passengers were safely evacuated after a fire broke out in coaches of the Amritsar-New Jalpaiguri Karmabhoomi Express near Sarai Banjara railway station on the Rajpura-Ambala-Delhi route on Friday afternoon, railway officials said. No casualties or major injuries were reported.Two special trains were subsequently operated from Sarai Banjara towards New Jalpaiguri to ferry passengers to their destination, while efforts were made to remove the damaged coaches and restore normal rail traffic.The district administration dispatched ambulances, fire brigade teams and police personnel after receiving information about the fire around 1.30pm. Local residents, railway teams and civil administration, police and fire brigade personnel worked together to bring the blaze under control.Railway officials switched off power to both overhead electric lines as a safety measure. The loco pilot and guard detached the affected coaches from the rest of the train to prevent the fire from spreading.Patiala Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Aggarwal and SSP Harmandeep Hans visited the site. SDM Rajpura Ravinder Singh, SP Bikram Brar, DSP Manjit Singh and other officials also joined the operation.GRP and RPF personnel participated in the rescue and relief work, while doctors were deployed at Sarai Banjara station to examine passengers.The Railways and Punjab administration arranged food, drinking water and transport for the passengers. Punjab Transport buses and locally available vehicles were deployed, while passengers were provided food, tea and biscuits.Langar was also organised with the help of the local gurdwara.Ambala Division Divisional Railway Manager Vinod Bhatia said railway safety mechanisms were activated immediately after the fire was detected. Rail traffic on both sides of the affected section was halted as a precaution until the section was cleared.Bhatia said a detailed forensic investigation would establish the cause of the fire. SSP Hans said the situation was completely under control and that police and railway personnel had worked in close coordination.
