Saimri Bakhtiyarpur: A major rail incident was averted early Monday morning after two coaches of the Samastipur-Saharsa Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) train caught fire at Simri Bakhtiyarpur railway station in Bihar’s Saharsa district. Railway officials confirmed that all passengers were safely evacuated from the train, and no casualties or injuries were reported from the scene.
According to East Central Railway Chief Public Relations Officer Saraswati Chandra, the incident occurred around 3:00 AM shortly after train number 63344 arrived at the station. The station master alerted authorities upon noticing smoke and flames emanating from the motor coach. The blaze rapidly spread to an adjacent coach before station personnel could contain it using onboard fire extinguishers. Emergency response teams promptly cut off the overhead power supply and deployed fire tenders from the Saharsa station to extinguish the inferno, fully bringing it under control by 5:50 AM.
The high-voltage incident caused severe disruptions on the rail network, halting train services along the Samastipur-Saharsa route for nearly two hours before operations could be safely resumed. Railway authorities have initiated a high-level inquiry to investigate the precise cause of the fire and assess structural damage to the affected coaches.
