Title - Train engine fire: Close shave for 600 near Bikaner

At least 600 passengers on board the Bhatinda-Jodhpur Express had a lucky escape after the train’s engine caught fire on Tuesday morning.
    The incident occurred at a place nearly 28km from the Bikaner railway station, between Palana and Udramsar stations. Passengers were stranded for four hours but none suffered injuries.
    Around 7.30 am, when the train departed for Palana, the two engine drivers detected smoke coming out of the engine and immediately applied the emergency brakes. The guard raised an alarm and informed the station master of the next station, who then informed the authorities at the Bikaner railway station. By then, fire had engulfed the entire engine. Panic-stricken passengers, though, were relieved to see that the fire did not spread to the coaches. Fuel leakage reason for train fire
Bikaner: At least 600 passengers on board the Bhatinda-Jodhpur Express had a lucky escape after the train’s engine caught fire on Tuesday morning.
    “Without waiting for the relief wagon to come, the drivers with the help of passengers tried dousing the flame with mud and water,” a senior police officer at GRP, who was part of the rescue team, said.
    The district administration of Bikaner rushed two fire tenders from Deshnok and Palana towns to the spot. “It took fire fighters an hour to douse the fire. The passengers, however, were stranded for close to four hours as the extra engine arrived by 11.45am. The train, then, finally left for Jodhpur,” an officer with the district police said. Primary reports suggested fuel leakage as the main reason for the fire. “A probe will be carried out by the senior authorities of the Jodhpur division of the NWR,” an NWR official said.