Following various fire incidents that affected CITELIS buses from the IVECO / IRISBUS company last week, the Ville de Luxembourg announced this afternoon that it has removed fourteen buses of this brand from circulation until the source of the problems is ascertained.
On Wednesday 29 July, Thursday 30 July and Monday 3 August 2015, buses from the IVECO / IRISBUS company produced fire and smoke which was attributed to a technical fault. During the incident on Thursday 30 July, a city bus caught fire and the bus was stopped and passengers evacuated before the driver attempted to put the fire out with an on-board fire extinguisher. This initial attempt was unsuccessful, but the fire brigade arrived a short while later to extinguish the flames and nobody was injured.
Subsequent internal analyses on Friday 31 July and Saturday 1 August 2015 were carried out, and the initial assumption that the fire was caused by short-circuiting due to electrical wiring was ruled out. Current analysis being conducted by both an external and internal expert suggests that the root cause could be the bus alternator, which ordinarily charges the battery and the electrical system of the vehicle when the engine is running.
As a safety precaution, the Bus Service is reportedly conducting an audit of all vehicles in its fleet to determine if other buses have the same type of alternator. If this is the case, the buses concerned will be withdrawn from circulation.
