Title - Smoke scare in train

A sudden smoke which emanated between two coaches of the Karaikudi-Tiruchi passenger while it was approaching Tiruchi Junction on Saturday morning caused anxious moments for the commuters.The diesel electric multiple unit passenger (Train No. 76830) had stopped at a home signal close to Tiruchi Junction when the passengers noticed smoke in between the third and the fourth coach. The passengers immediately alerted the guard who used fire extinguishers from the diesel power car to arrest the smoke completely.As a safety measure, four numbers of fire extinguishers have been provided in all diesel power cars.On examination by railway authorities, unexpected ingress of rain water was found between cable joints of the two coaches which led to short circuiting thereby resulting in smoke, a Southern Railway press release here said.The release further said the cable has high quality fire retardant insulation . The cable supplies power for fans and lights and safety provision was available in the form of circuit breakers in all coaches. The circuit breakers are designed in such a way that if any problem with fans or lights inside the coach occurs, it would trip and cut off the supply.The cable has insulation quality of high class and is available between two ends. The release further said as a preventive measure all joints are being checked.