NAGOYA – JR Central said Saturday that a fire originating from a piece of equipment under the floor of a carriage forced a bullet train to stop the previous night at a station in central Japan, affecting the journeys of thousands of people.
After leaving Osaka for Shizuoka, a conductor noticed a burning smell in one of the cars while the Tokaido Shinkansen Line train was running between stations in Shiga and Gifu prefectures, according to the train operator.
When the train arrived at Gifu-Hashima Station, smoke was seen in the carriage and some 250 passengers were told to evacuate. A fire was detected during a checkup and was extinguished about two hours later.
JR Central said Saturday that the smoke had emerged from a converter to control motor output, situated under the floor of the ninth carriage of the 16-car train, a N700S model that was only introduced to this service in June.
The incident caused delays of up to 52 minutes to other services, affecting 3,800 people.
AloJapan.com