On the night of September 10 to 11, the batteries of a tram overheated. The firefighters managed to control the fire. The incident resulted in no casualties.
A fire broke out on the night from Wednesday to Thursday at the Las Planas tram depot in Nice. According to our information, the batteries of a tram that had just been parked overheated shortly after three in the morning, prompting a rapid response from emergency services.
The firefighters from the Alpes-Maritimes deployed significant resources on site to contain the fire as quickly as possible. Their actions prevented any spread to other vehicles parked in the depot.
An old tram implicated
The tram in question is number 16, which is 44 meters long and has been in service for eighteen years. The cause of the fire appears to be related to a battery problem on this tram. No casualties were reported and no other trams were damaged.
By the morning of September 11, tram service had resumed normally on line 1. However, the incident had not been communicated to the public at the time service resumed.
This event has raised concerns in some local political circles. The question of the safety of passengers and tram staff is being raised. “What would happen if such a fire occurred on a tram in service filled with passengers? The safety of users and tram staff could be compromised,” questions Benoit Kandel, head of the Nice section of the National Rally.
The Nice office of the National Rally released a statement calling on the president of the Mรฉtropole Nice Cรดte d’Azur, Christian Estrosi, to “fully investigate this fire and promptly take all necessary precautionary and safety measures for the passengers and tram staff.”
Contacted for comment, the services of the Ligne d’Azur network have not yet responded to our request.
Every day, according to the Mรฉtropole Nice Cรดte d’Azur, more than 120,000 people use Nice’s tram line 1. The accident at the Las Planas depot, although quickly contained, has thus reignited the debate on the condition of the rolling stock and the management of transport network safety.
