Fire in battery box of Bhopal-Delhi Vande Bharat train; no passenger hurt

A fire broke out in the battery box of a coach of the Vande Bharat train heading from Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal to New Delhi on Monday morning, a senior railway official said.

There were 20-22 passengers in the coach and they were shifted to other coaches immediately. No injury was reported to anyone in the incident, the official said.

The Rani Kamalapati-Hazrat Nizamuddin Vande Bharat Express train started at 5.40 am from Bhopal, West Central Railway's chief public relations officer Rahul Shrivastava said.

"When it was passing through Kalhar station, the station manager noticed smoke billowing out from the battery box of the C-14 coach following which he alerted senior officials and the train was stopped at Kurwai-Kaithora station," the official said in a statement.

Fire brigade personnel extinguished the blaze by 7.58 am, he said.

The battery box is located quite far away from the passenger area under the coach, the official said.

As soon as the fire incident took place, the electrical safety system separated batteries from it. The batteries were removed and the fire was extinguished, he said.

Railway staff was conducting the repair work, officials said.