Railway Board directs zones to launch fire safety drive from Nov 1

NEW DELHI: Following a series of fire incidents in trains, the Railway Board has asked all zones to take certain precautionary measures so that such mishappenings can be prevented during the festive session.

“In the light of recent cases of fire in trains and upcoming festive sessions, it is advised to launch the following drives for fire safety assurances,” the board wrote to the general managers of all railway zones, suggesting three steps.

According to the board, the departments concerned should check if the fire detection/suppression systems in coaches are properly functioning starting from November 1 to November 7.To ensure that parcel vans are not carrying any inflammable material, the board has asked the zones to thoroughly check all the parcels starting from November 1 till November 14.

“As the festival of Diwali falls on November 12, the board wants to ensure that people should not send crackers or any other inflammable material through railway parcel van,” a board official said.

He added, “The board has also advised zones to include checking of all dustbins in the trains during the drive so that inflammable materials such as cigarettes, wrappers etc can be identified and removed.”