Fire damages AC coach of Nagercoil Express

Coimbatore: An air-conditioned coach of the Coimbatore-Nagercoil Express, which was parked at the railway yard of the Coimbatore Junction,

caught fire on Monday afternoon

.

It was a minor fire and was put out by the workers within minutes, divisional railway manager U Subba Rao said. “The workers opened the door to the coach and sprayed water inside. The fire destroyed two beds in the coach. The coach was removed and will be sent to the Integral Coach Factory at Perambur,” he said.

There were no passengers near the train at the time of the incident.

The cause of the fire is still to be ascertained, a senior official said. “We believe the fire was caused by short circuit or from a carelessly discarded cigarette butt. We are inspecting the train,” he said and ruled out the reports that the fire was caused as the engine was left running even after parking.

Railway has ordered an internal inquiry into the incident.

The Coimbatore-Nagercoil train departs from the city at 7.30pm every day. It leaves Nagercoil at 8.30pm and reaches Coimbatore at 7.20am.