Wagon of a freight train carrying fuel catches fire near Tiruvallur railway station

A wagon of a freight train carrying fuel caught fire near Tiruvallur railway station on Sunday (July 13, 2025) resulting in cancellation of several long distance and suburban train services.

The fire and rescue services personnel were involved in dousing the fire for more than two hours even as overhead power supply for electric trains were cut off as safety precaution. 

A senior official of Southern Railway said a fire accident occurred in a wagon of a freight train carrying fuel between Tiruvallur and Egattur railway station resulting in thick smoke spreading in the locality. The fire immediately spread to other wagons resulting in five wagons getting damaged in the fire accident. 

Fire and rescue services personnel, along with railway officials, were immediately deployed and are actively managing the situation at the site. Restoration work is in progress, and normal train operations will resume at the earliest.

A press release issued by Southern Railway said a total of eight long distance trains including the Vande Bharat (20607) to Mysuru from Dr. MGR Chennai Central railway station and the Kovai Express (12675) from Central railway station have been fully cancelled. Also, eight express trains bound to the city from various destinations have been short terminated at Tiruvallur and five express diverted via Gudur section. This has resulted in severe hardships to the passengers.

The suburban train services on the west section from Arakkonam and Tiruvallur have been stopped and instead, services are operated only from Avadi. Egattur which is designated as halt railway station is a transport hub for freight and passenger trains. 

The railway has announced helpline numbers for the passengers – 044-25354151, 044-24354995.