AnsaldoBreda blames ‘irresponsible’ driving for Fyra failure

AnsaldoBreda has reacted angrily to the public condemnation of its Fyra V250 train by Belgian rail bosses.

In a statement, the Italian rolling stock manufacturer said it rejected the accusations made by Belgian Railways (SNCB) about the poor reliability of its vehicles – five months after suspending Fyra services because of concerns over safety.

AnsaldoBreda says that the damage to V250 trains was caused by “excessive speed of the train (250 km/h), incautious and irresponsible operation” in heavy snowfall, arguing that all trains were reliable and met with international standards.

Fyra services were taken out of operation in January after a build up of ice appeared to cause components to fall off the undercarriage of a number of trains.

Belgian Railways (SNCB) cancelled an order for three more trains earlier this week and operator NS has now said it wishes to completely move away from the V250.

SNCB commissioned Mott MacDonald and Concept Risk to investigate the problems with the V250. According to SNCB, the research found flaws with the design that could take up to two years to rectify.




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