After the recent incidents of air-conditioned coaches of trains catching fire, Central Railway is working on precautionary measures to be taken to avert such accidents. The authorities have decided to send safety tips to passengers on their mobile phones on steps to be taken in case of emergency and review safety measures in coaches.
Public relations officer (PRO), Central Railway, AK Singh said, “We will be sending short message service (SMSes) educating passengers about the flammable items that should not be carried while travelling in trains. We will also be telling how to tackle emergencies and use exit window.”
Team dna did a reality check and examined the fire extinguishers placed inside the Pune-Howrah Duronto express at Pune railway junction. The expiry date was missing on most extinguishers.
Even passengers were unaware about the emergency exits located in coaches.
IT professional Vijendra Dhage (32) said, “I have been travelling by trains for quite sometime but am unaware about something called an emergency exit window. Even if there is one, many passengers do not know how to open it during an emergency.”
Working professional Saptarshi Saha (26) said, “Looking at the condition of Indian Railways, I do not think that they can have a fire extinguisher in all AC coaches and the ones installed in this train do not seem to be in working condition.”
Public relations officer (PRO), Central Railway, AK Singh said, “All the AC coaches have fire extinguishers. There is one fire extinguisher with the guard and the driver of the train has some seven fire extinguishers. We will also be doing routine check of the pantry car as well.” The railway authorities have directed Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) to scan baggage and ensure that passengers are not carrying any kind of flammable items.
Even as RPF officials claim to have deputed extra staff to check baggage at the station, the staff at the screening centre were just not bothered to check the baggage.
Inspector (RPF) DS Rajput said, “After the recent incident of a train catching fire, we have deputed more than five RPF staff at the baggage screening centre.”
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