Photographs: Reuters
Authorities of Indian Railways, which has witnessed a worrying spate of fire-related mishaps in the last few years, are yet to address the issue.
The Mumbai Dehraun Express was the latest train to suffer from the negligence of the railway authorities. Nine people were killed when a fire broke out in three compartments of the Express in the early hours of Wednesday.
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Why does Indian Railways have so many burning trains?
Despite repeated fire incidents in trains, railways is yet to install an automatic fire alarm system in a majority of long-distance services.
It costs nearly Rs 35 lakh to install a fire alarm system in a train.
In one of the worst train mishaps in recent times, 26 passengers were charred to death in an AC coach in the Bangalore-Nanded Express on December 28 last year.
Based on preliminary reports, police said that the cause of the fire may be a short-circuit near the air-conditioning unit.
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Why does Indian Railways have so many burning trains?
Photographs: Reuters
Earlier, a fire in the Tamil Nadu Express had claimed 32 lives.
Though investigators claimed that the fire had been caused by an electrical short circuit, the circumstances which led to the accident and heavy loss of life continues to be wrapped in the mystery.
The probe by the railway police had indicated that loopholes in the railway safety and security system also contributed significantly to the horrendous tragedy.
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Why does Indian Railways have so many burning trains?
Three coaches of the Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani Express had caught fire near Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh on April 18, 2011.
The New Delhi-Patna Rajdhani Express' generator coach caught fire on the outskirts in New Delhi station on July, 2011.
The automatic smoke/fire detection alarm system is being planned for the air-conditioned coaches of all Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Garib Rath and Duranto trains but so far it has been installed in only two Rajdhani trains.
Currently, the Secunderabad Rajdhani and Bhubaneswar Rajdhani have the system, which is equipped to detect smoke and fire at the earliest and ring the alarm.
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