The embattled Blue Train is suffering again, this time after a fire broke out in a coach while the train was in for repairs on Tuesday morning.

Transnet spokesperson Ayanda Shezi said the entity was investigating. The famous locomotive was at the Transnet engineering facility in Koedoespoort, Pretoria, when it caught alight.

Shezi said three people were seen fleeing the scene. One person was apprehended by company security personnel and handed to the police.

The two other suspects are at large.

“The coach had been taken to Koedoespoort for repairs after being involved in a derailment last November. Transnet has almost completed the investigation into the cause of the November derailment, and today’s incident will not impact the investigations,” she said.

Shezi said further details of both incidents would be communicated in due course.

Just after midnight on November 7, 19 empty Blue Train coaches derailed at Union Station in Elandsfontein, near Germiston.

The luxury locomotive is no stranger to fire.

In November 2012, the train's engine caught fire while in the Karoo. There was apparently not enough firefighting equipment to kill the flames and the engine was decoupled from the coaches to prevent the fire spreading. 

In March 2003, six coaches were damaged when a fire broke out in the kitchen at the Pretoria station.

The worst incident occurred in April 2010, when carriages ran away in the Centurion Station and derailed 19km away in Pretoria. Three people were killed and seven seriously injured.

The Blue Train travels between Pretoria and Cape Town and Pretoria and the Kruger National Park. A three-day return trip between Pretoria and Cape Town starts from R28,915 per person sharing, while the three-day return trip from Pretoria to the Kruger National Park starts from R42,145 per person sharing.

The 10-time winner of the World's Most Luxurious Train award turns 76 this year.

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