Sparks on train at Delhi's Rajiv Chowk metro station, passengers evacuated

A Delhi Metro train was evacuated at Rajiv Chowk station after sparks were seen on its roof on Wednesday morning. An official of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said that initial reports came in at 10.22 am that smoke and spark were noticed on a train at Central Secretariat.

The train was asked to report at Rajiv Chowk station where all the passengers were asked to deboard. Another spark appeared when the train chugged in, which was followed by a minor blast in the rear part of the train. At this stage, DMRC says there was a short circuit but the incident is being probed.

Commuters took to Twitter soon after and some said they heard two explosions in the train. However, such reports remain unconfirmed. According to DMRC, the train has been taken to a depot for inspection.

Service was disrupted on the Yellow Line for some time after the incident though normal train operations resumed by 11 am. Rajiv Chowk is one of the busiest interchange stations in the Delhi Metro network.

Platform numbers 1 and 2 were crowded with passengers when HT visited the Rajiv Chowk metro station at 11 am. Passengers appeared unaware of any disruptions, but a metro staffer managing the crowd said that attempts were made to evacuate the two platforms for 10-15 minutes.

"As soon as the train reached the station, I heard a small blast sound. There was another mini blast around five minutes later," said the guard.

Another guard said that passengers were instructed to get off the train one by one. "We tried to prevent a stampede and asked all passengers to leave the platform. A few people left, but others decided to stay back and watch," said the guard.