COIMBATORE: Valuables worth several lakh rupees were gutted in a major fire that broke out in the room of the station master in Mettupalayam railway station on Thursday early morning.

The Nilgiri Express train to Chennai, NMR train to Ooty and passenger trains to Coimbatore are operated from Mettupalayam railway station.

After the Nilgiri Express train left the station at night, the room of the Station Master (SM) was locked and officials left the station.

Around 3am, smoke billowed out of the room and soon fire began to spread out. On receiving information, the fire fighters from Mettupalayam station arrived and managed to douse the fire after a struggle for two hours.

Police said fire gutted valuables worth several lakh rupees including computers, panels, electric items and documents. Senior railway officials visited the Mettupalayam railway station and held an inquiry. The Mettupalayam police are probing to know if the fire happened due to an electric short circuit or any other reasons. Police said any untoward incident was averted as the fire broke out, when there were no passengers.