Gujarat: Fire at Vadodara railway station; no casualties

Ahmedabad, Apr 28 (PTI) A fire was reported on one of the platforms of Vadodara railway station in Gujarat on Wednesday and no casualties were reported in the incident, an official said.

At least seven trains were briefly halted for safety reasons after a part of the roof of platform no 1 caught fire in the afternoon hours, the official said.

The blaze erupted due to short circuit in an advertisement board outside an underpass, and the flames also gutted a portion of the roof at platform no 1, Western Railway PRO for Vadodara division, Khemraj Meena said.

"The underpass connects east Vadodara with the western part of the city, and platform no. 1 is situated above it.

Thick smoke covered the platform after the fire first started inside the underpass around 4.30 pm," the official said.

At least seven approaching trains were asked to halt for around 15 minutes some distance away from the station, for safety reasons, he said.

"Flames from the underpass reached the platform and gutted a portion of the roof. The blaze was quickly doused by personnel from the Vadodara fire brigade. No one was injured in the incident," he added.

A short circuit in one of the advertisement hoardings erected at the entrance of the underpass may have caused the blaze, fire officer Digvijaysinh Parmar said.

"It appears that a short circuit triggered the fire in an advertising hoarding around 4.30 pm. Some portion of the roof of platform no. 1 just above the underpass also gutted.

However, we doused the flames before it spread further," he said. PTI PJT ARU ARU