Swiss Manufacturer Investigates Train After Smoking Battery
A commuter train at the Pääsküla station caught fire on Sunday night when a battery malfunctioned in the roof of an engine, stalling train traffic for an hour and forcing passengers to transfer onto replacement buses.
The train, on the Paldiski-Riisipere line, was due to depart from Pääsküla at 22:33, when operators noticed that one of the engine wagons was smoking, reported Postimees. Fire fighters were notified at 22.41 and managed to extinguish the flames by 22:55.
The Stadler FLIRT train in question was the very first of a brand new fleet of Swiss-built rolling stock to begin operating in July.
The Estonian operator Elektriraudtee and representatives from the Swiss producer, Stadler Bussnang AG, investigated the malfunction this morning. Stadler's initial conclusion was that the battery was just a bad apple, and that a repeat of the problem is not likely to emerge in the rest of the recently acquired trains.