Stadler rep says fire was caused by faulty battery

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Photo: Urmas Luik / Pärnu Postimees

The fire Sunday night in the battery of a brand new electric train supplied to Estonia by the Swiss manufacturer Stadler was caused by faulty battery, a representative of Stadler has said.

A fire broke out upon departure from the station of Paaskula in Tallinn in one of the roof-mounted batteries of the electric train that had completed the Paldiski-Paaskula route and was about to embark on the Paaskula-Riispere operation at the scheduled departure time of 10:33 p.m. The train driver immediately informed the railway's engineer on duty, who alerted the fire service. The train driver also informed technical personnel at the train's operating company Elektriraudtee (Electric Railway), who arrived at the scene together with a representative of Stadler.

Firemen put out the fire in the overheated battery and the train was towed to depot.

On Monday morning representatives of Elektriraudtee and Stadler began examining the problematic battery and log data in the train's onboard computer. «The train's manufacturer has offered an initial opinion that the said malfunction was connected with that specific battery,» a representative of Elektriraudtee said.

Elektriraudtee offered its apologies to passengers for possible inconvenience caused.

Estonia started replacing its fleet of domestic electric and diesel trains with brand new Stadler FLIRT rolling stock at the beginning of July.

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