Nellore: Tension prevailed in Sullurpeta railway station when the bogie of a passenger train bound for Bitragunta from Chennai caught fire soon after the train halted at the station around 7.35 pm on Monday.
To the relief of everyone concerned, there were no passengers on the coach.
According to information, passengers travelling on the ill-fated compartment, shifted to other coaches when they saw smoke in the coach at Akkampeta, the station before Sullurpeta.
They also alerted the guard, but the crew took it lightly and moved ahead as the smoke was negligible and there was no scope to halt the train, because it was on the mainline track.
To the surprise of railway staff and passengers waiting for other trains, flames erupted from the coach when the train entered the platform. Notwithstanding the heavy downpour, the flames continued till the seats and wooden material reduced to ashes. The coach next to the gutted bogie also damaged slightly.
However, there were no casualties. Firefighting units rushed to the spot and contained the fire spreading to other coaches. In the backdrop of recent attack by some Tamil youth on a RTC bus at nearby town, Tada after the encounter in Tirupati, locals suspecting the role of some miscreants behind the incident.
