Smoke billowed out of the engine of Guruvayur-Ernakulam passenger train on Friday morning forcing it to stop at the Punkunnam railway station near Thrissur.

The incident took place between 6am to 7am. On seeing the smoke, the loco pilot cleared the train from the track, moving it to an unoccupied track in Thrissur, which was the nearest major station.

A tragedy was prevented as the train stopped immediately. According to railway authorities there was no fire, only smoke. Officials suspect the primary reason for the smoke was due to a technical failure.

“A technical team has already reached the spot, they are assessing the situation, As per the primary assumption it was a technical failure or a short circuit. It’s very rare that such incidents happen,” Railway PRO Shiby told TNM.

The railway PRO, however, refuted reports that the incident affected railway traffic along the Ernakulam line. “The loco pilot handled the situation in a sensible way which prevented any traffic congestion on the route,” he added.

The service of the Chennai-Aleppey Express, the next train in the same route was disrupted owing to the incident.