Small Amtrak battery fire

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Report of Amtrak train  MKE - CHI    having a small battery fire.  No location of fire given.  Could have been either P-42, SC-44, or train car. Wonder what kind of battery ?  Hope it was not a Lithium - ION battery ?  We have had enough of those batteries failing by overheating.

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/minor-electrical-fire-reported-on-amtrak-train-headed-to-chicago/

 

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Unconfirmed report battery box on SC-44 not secured properly, battery slid out and hit something catching on fire.  If report correct suspect battery wires kept battery from falling onto ROW ?  Stuff happens !

[RME]

This topic is being discussed in a thread over on 'Locomotives'.

Battery boxes on Chargers are exposed on either side at the rear of the locomotive, almost like 'pods', and I wouldn't be surprised to find some kind of road damage associated with the battery 'coming out'.

They are almost certainly 'conventional' lead-acid cells, following the PRIIA 305 standard.  There are Li-ion batteries for locomotives, but the ones from the Siemens preferred supplier (Hoppecke Industrial) are only just coming on the market and are optimized for a kind of 'hybrid' operation.

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RME

They are almost certainly 'conventional' lead-acid cells, following the PRIIA 305 standard.  There are Li-ion batteries for locomotives, but the ones from the Siemens preferred supplier (Hoppecke Industrial) are only just coming on the market and are optimized for a kind of 'hybrid' operation.

 

 

This brings up a suspicion this poster has.  No matter what kind of battery, be it a dry cell, wet cell, lead acid, NI CAD, LI ION, or another if you short any of them out you have the possibility of a fire.  Of course  the damaging of a battery can cause a short of any of the above.    So if the battery(s) was mechanically damaged then ------------