New Delhi: The passengers of the Thiruvananthapuram–Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express reached Delhi seven hours late, but relieved that their ordeal was over. Two coaches of the train caught fire early on Sunday morning.The train caught fire in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh. No lives were lost, but many of the 68 passengers who were evacuated from coach B1 lost all their belongings.On platform 3 at Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station, Rajesh Mohta (48), a textile trader from Surat, was standing with his 15-year-old daughter Khanak. They had set off for a vacation to Shimla. When the flames engulfed their B1 coach, the duo escaped, but all their luggage was charred. “We got these slippers from Kota. We have lost everything else,” Rajesh said, pointing to his feet.Rajesh’s phone and Khanak’s glasses were the only belongings that came out with them from the coach. “We were given Rs 5,000 as compensation, but we still need clarity on what happens next,” the trader added.Kishore Donga ( 53), a medicine businessman from Surat, had a similar account to narrate. He was travelling to Delhi for work with his associate Kaushik Kumar (27). Donga said he lost luggage worth nearly Rs 15,000. “After the evacuation, some passengers accommodated us in their seats before we were moved to another coach at Kota,” he said.The kindness of strangers carried the day. Donga struck a friendship with fellow Surat resident Aakash Baraiya, a textile businessman travelling with his wife. “The coach was engulfed in flames. It was horrifying,” Baraiya said. “We are thankful to the man who first noticed the smoke and raised the alarm.”Among the passengers was 65-year-old Parvesh Khurana of Sonipat. She was on the train with eight family members. They had boarded the express at Surat, after attending a family event. Parvesh, in a wheelchair outside the B6 coach, broke down when the station lift stopped working. Khurana suffered an ankle fracture while getting off the train at Ratlam and had to be taken to a hospital there. She again boarded the train with her family and reached Delhi. A senior railway official said, “The lift developed some problem, unfortunately, for around 10 minutes during that time and was being repaired. Later, it started functioning.”Relatives had gathered on the platform at Hazrat Nizamuddin. Rishit Mathur, a 20-year-old student was in the B2 coach. He was returning to Noida after completing an internship in Mumbai. His father, Saurabh Mathur (53), said his son had said he could smell smoke moments before panic spread through the train.“They first switched off the electricity to prevent any further mishaps. Everyone was removed and passengers were later given food,” Saurabh said. Rishit’s mother, Payal, said an army officer in the same coach helped keep passengers calm and ensured the evacuation remained orderly.Gracy (62), a resident of Dilshad Garden, was waiting for her niece, 21-year-old nurse Anne Maria, who had boarded at Ernakulam. “We were relieved to hear her voice in the morning,” Gracy said.Hours earlier, around the train’s scheduled arrival time of 12.30 pm, passengers waiting at the station anxiously discussed the incident after watching news reports.Also waiting on the platform was Naveen Singh (40), a ministry of defence official travelling from Meerut to Nagpur, where he is posted. Singh, who has been frequently travelling for over two decades, said onboard incidents appeared to be increasing in recent years. “More people are opting for AC coaches because of recurring heatwaves, which also adds pressure on the system,” he saidThere were also some who had skipped the train, which turned out to be a stroke of luck, Arkan (20), Suhan Ali (20) and Samshad (18) — three friends from Moradabad working at a salon in Thiruvananthapuram — had chosen another train over the Rajdhani. It is a decision they won’t regret. The trio frequently travels between Kerala and Uttar Pradesh and had previously boarded the same train. “We usually avoid fast trains because the tickets are expensive and there’s a rush,” Ali said. “When we saw the news, we realised how lucky we were.”
