Directive follows explosion on the Mumbai-Howrah Mail in Odisha; zones told to allow “no exception” and carry out surprise checks
New Delhi, October 29: Passengers will not be able to charge phones or power banks on trains overnight. The Railway Board has told all zonal railways to strictly enforce its rule that charging points stay switched off between 11 pm and 5 am.
The reminder follows an incident in the early hours of October 24, when a passenger’s power bank exploded, caught fire and filled an AC coach of the 12809 Mumbai-Howrah Mail with smoke. The train was halted near Bandamunda station in Odisha for about 15 minutes before resuming its journey at 3:53 am.
In a letter dated October 26 to the principal chief mechanical engineers of all zones, the Board noted that onboard staff in the South Eastern Railway had failed to switch off the charging points as required. It directed that the sockets must always remain off during these hours, with no exceptions. Staff are to be counselled and trained, and supervisors have been asked to conduct surprise inspections.
The rule itself is not new. The Board first introduced it in June 2014 on the recommendation of the Commissioner of Railway Safety, after a deadly fire in an AC 3-tier coach of the Hazur Sahib Nanded-Bengaluru Express in 2013. The South East Central Railway reissued similar instructions in March this year.
Concerns over power banks are growing. Last week, one exploded on a Mumbai AC local train. In November 2023, a fire in a New Delhi-Darbhanga special train spread across several coaches.
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