Fire retardant coaches stopped Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani express fire from spreading

NEW DELHI: Passengers on board the Delhi-bound Mumbai Rajdhani Express escaped a major disaster thanks to the fire-retardant design of the coaches that stopped the blaze from spreading beyond three compartments.

A senior railway official said new fire-retardant coaches were introduced on Rajdhani to enhance safety for passengers. “If the compartments were not fire retardant, the blaze could have spread in a flash as the train was moving at great speed,” railway spokesperson Harish Kanwar said. Moreover, unlike the old coaches, the new ones have couplings that can be detached from outside. “That helped the railway employees to quickly pull apart the other coaches from those that had already on fire,” said an official.

The stainless steel body also ensures that if a train catches fire, the smoke is nontoxic . The design also ensures that the door locks close only when the temperature generated by the fire outside the coach is very high. The berths have lightweight aluminum frames while cushions and back rests are made of fire retardant PU foam and the covering fabric is also fire retardant.

The railways is also experimenting with an advance fire alarm system which alerts passengers of the entire train if any coach catches fire. "An advance fire alarm system has been installed on the Bhubaneswar Rajdhani on a pilot basis," said an official.