Vande Bharat Express is in the news again, not for speeding up travel, stone attacks or collisions with cattle, but for a ticketless passenger who could not resist the craving for a cigarette during the journey.
The train travelling from Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh to Secunderabad had just crossed Gudur and the destination was still more than eight hours away.
A passenger had boarded the train without a valid ticket and had locked himself inside the toilet. He would have well made the journey free of cost, but a drag did him in. Unaware of fire alarms installed in the flagship train, he went to the toilet and lit a cigarette. Instantly, alarms started ringing and an automatic fire extinguisher went to work, spraying aerosol through the compartment.
This sparked panic and passengers used the emergency phone in the compartment to alert the train guard. The train came to a halt near Manubulu station.
Railway Police personnel swung into action with a fire extinguisher and broke the toilet's window pane. Inside they found the passenger, whose drags had brought a train to halt and started a full-fledged rescue op. The busted smoker was detained at Nellore for further action and the train resumed its journey.
Videos showed aerosol particles inside the coach and a shattered window, apparently a result of panic among passengers.
"An unauthorised passenger boarded the train from Tirupati and locked himself in the toilet of the C-13 coach. He smoked inside the toilet which resulted in the automatic activation of an aerosol fire extinguisher inside the toilet," an official from South Central Railway (SCR) Zone's Vijayawada Division said in a statement.
