Emergency services battle train fire above busy Joburg freeway

Emergency services were on Tuesday night trying to contain a massive train fire on the railway bridge over the N1 freeway in Johannesburg.

It was not immediately clear whether there were injuries and deaths linked to the blaze‚ but metro police said that passengers were jumping out of the burning train when the fire broke out.

The blaze has affected traffic in both directions in the Maraisburg area of Johannesburg‚ with major backlogs and delays expected.

JMPD spokeswoman Edna Mamonyane told TimesLIVE on Tuesday evening that the force’s freeway patrol teams were on the scene to “check if it’s safe” to allow vehicles to continue to use the M1‚ or if the road would be closed and traffic diverted.

“People were getting off the train when it caught fire… and we are worried that they might be running into the freeway‚” she said.

Social media users claimed that debris from the train was falling onto the freeway‚ but this could not be immediately confirmed.

According to the @itrafficgp account‚ the fire had been put out at around 7.30pm and that the freeway was clear with freeflowing traffic.

This is a developing story.