Minor fire disrupts Metro services, passengers inconvenienced

A fire that broke out at the third line of Metro railway on Wednesday morning sparked tension among the daily passengers.

The incident took place at Masterda Surya Sen Station at around 8.57 am when the rail staff and police saw a spark emerge from the control room. Soon the train was stopped in the tracks and the passengers were evacuated. The rail service from up and down direction was stopped.

The Metro railway authority, however, suspects that any foreign body like things thrown to rail track from the platform may be the reason for the fire. “The fire broke out at 8.57 am. The train services were resumed after the debacle around 10.06 am. It may be any foreign body that caused the fire in the third rail,” said Indrani Banerjee, Chief Public Relation Officer (CPRO) of Metro railway.

She also said, the third rail, which drives the electricity in the rail was touched by the foreign body. The heavy load of electricity – 754 D.C (Direct Current) gutted the foreign body – the thus caused the fire.

The air-conditioned train was heading towards Kavi Subhas Station from Dum Dum and the people who were travelling in those compartments were asked to leave the station. The internal fire security measures of the Metro rail were applied.

Three tenders of the fire brigade reached the spot. The fire fighters and the technical staff of the Metro tried hard to cool the wheel with spraying water. However, the passengers faced inconvenience during the rush hour. Most of the passengers showed their dissatisfaction coming out from the Metro tunnel. “I am going to my office. I will be late today,” said Supratim Saha, a passenger.

The Metro railway, however, soon arranged extra train after the incident. The additional trains were frequent in the rush hours. However, no such enquiry was called up by the authority after such incident.