Railways board changes charging rules, orders all zones to switch off socket points between 11 pm and 5 am: Here’s why

The Railway Board has recently asked all railway zones to enforce a rule introduced in 2014 requiring mobile phone and laptop charging sockets in train coaches to remain off from 11 pm to 5 am as a fire safety measure.

The instruction comes after an incident on South Eastern Railway in which a passenger’s power bank exploded and emitted smoke while charging, news agency PTI reported earlier this week. The charging points remained switched on during the prohibited hours because onboard staff had not disconnected the power supply.

What does the Railway Board’s latest directive say?

In a letter dated 26 October, the Railway Board wrote, “Recently, an instance has occurred in SER (South Eastern Railway) wherein onboard staff did not switch off the mobile charging points during the aforesaid period. Subsequently, during charging, a passenger’s power bank exploded with smoke.”

It further said, “In view of the above, all Zonal Railways are advised to issue necessary instructions to all concerned staff to ensure strict compliance for mobile charging points to invariably remain switched off from 11 pm to 5 am,” adding that no exception should be made during these hours.

The order also directed the zones to train the concerned staff to ensure thorough implementation of and compliance with these instructions, and added, “Further, surprise inspections should be conducted at both the officers’ and supervisors’ levels to ensure strict compliance with these instructions.”

Why were overnight charging restrictions introduced in 2014?

According to the report, the decision to switch off electrical socket points in trains was first made in June 2014 on the recommendations of the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS). The recommendations followed a 2013 fire incident in an AC 3-tier coach of the Hazur Sahib Nanded–KSR Bengaluru Express in the Bengaluru division of the South Western Railway zone.

In its 2014 letter, the board had said, “The CRS, Southern Circle, in his report, has recommended that in air-conditioned coaches, power points provided for charging mobile phones and laptops should be switched off between 10 pm and 6 am.”

The letter further said, “In this regard, it is advised that power points provided for charging mobile phones and laptops in AC coaches should be switched off between 11 pm and 5 am, taking safety into consideration and for passengers’ convenience. Railways have also been advised to provide stickers in all AC coaches at specified locations to inform passengers of the restriction.”

A look at other incidents

In a separate incident in November 2023, a fire broke out around 5:25 pm in a sleeper-class coach of the New Delhi–Darbhanga Humsafar Clone Special. The incident occurred when the train was on the Sarai Bhopat–Etawah section of North Central Railway’s Prayagraj Division. The flames engulfed the coach before spreading to neighbouring coaches.

Following the incident, the CRS, in its report, recommended that mobile charging points also be switched off overnight in sleeper-class coaches, in line with the practice followed in AC coaches.

Responding in its action-taken report, the Railway Board said AC coach charging points were being disconnected during the prescribed hours. However, it said the cost of deploying staff to enforce the same arrangement in non-AC coaches made it impractical.

South East Central Railway (SECR) issued a similar reminder to all its divisions on March 6 after noting that charging points in AC coaches on trains passing through its Nagpur Division were frequently left powered overnight, contrary to the Board’s instructions.

SECR warned that unattended devices left charging overnight could pose a fire hazard and leave passengers’ phones vulnerable to theft.

How will passengers charge their devices?

While the Railway Board has not clearly specified how passengers can charge their mobile phones and laptops during the restricted hours, they would need to charge their devices beforehand.