There was fire in six coal-laden wagons
Fire in six coal-laden wagons turned a 58-wagon goods train into a 'burning train' which ran for more than two hours on track. The fire could be extinguished after fire fighting measures pressed into the service at the Garhwa Road Junction on the Monday night and not at Daltonganj where the facility was unavailable where the fire broke out.
The goods train was enroute to Rosa in Haryana from Jharkhand’s Khelari. The fire in six wagons was detected at Daltonganj railway station. Smoke was coming out but no rising flame said a railway official.
As there was no railway track free then where this goods train could have been controlled the 58 wagon goods train along with wagons on fire was sent Garhwa Road Junction where fire tender was called in.
The station superintendent of Garhwa Road Junction SK Das confirmed the smoke fire and its subsequent extinguishing there at the station. One wagon has a capacity of 58 tonnes. Now it is not known as to whether in all the 6 wagons the coal was loaded as per its full capacity or not.
About coal in wagon of a running goods train catching fire Das said, "These are the coals of the blasted one mines. If there is left even a small spark inside among the sheaves of the coal it is bound to cause smoke but no rising flame. Open cast mined coal has no problem." Rail traffic inspector AK Sinha said coal in wagon catches small fire because of the friction among the sheaves of coal there.
Asked as to who to pay the damages when coal in wagon is so lost to small fire the railways, the consignor ( dispatcher / coal company) Das and Sinha declined to give any answer saying, "We are not fit to say anything on this issue."
On an average one or two such episodes of goods train’s wagons with coal are detected to catch fire and smoke rising in a month on this CIC section of East Central railway of Dhanbad division.