Indian Railways, in the wake of recent series of incidents of fire in the trains has decided to NOT ALLOW charging of mobile phones, laptops etc. during night. The recent fire incident in Dehradun bound Shatabdi Express was probably because of short circuit and this is the main reason behind the decision of Indian Railways.

The directives will soon be rolled out as part of the precautionary measures as per which all charging points will be kept switched off between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. The Western Railway has already taken action by cutting off the electricity supply during night travel since 16th March.

The Indian Railways has also decided to take action against smoking and carrying inflammable items which were probably the reasons behind one of the other recent fire incidents. The zonal railways have been instructed to initiate intensive awareness drive to educate all stake holders, including railway employees and users against precautions to be taken against fire incidents.

Carrying inflammable objects in the trains is actually a punishable offence under Section 164 of Railways Act. The offender may get imprisonment of upto 3 years or a fine of rupees 1000 or both and a fine of rupees 500 under Section 165.