ACTION is inspecting its natural gas-fuelled buses to determine if a fitting that triggered the evacuation of Woden bus station on Wednesday afternoon could be loose in other vehicles.
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The entire bus station on Callam Street in Phillip was evacuated for about four hours on Wednesday when, at about 5pm, the driver of bus 338 smelled gas and ordered commuters off the vehicle.
ACTION staff and ACT Fire and Rescue attended to the gas leak, while bus services were redirected to a layover adjacent to the Hellenic Club, with normal services not resumed until about 9.15pm.
A spokeswoman for Territory and Municipal Services said a loose part of the gas fuel system on the roof of the bus had been identified as the cause of the incident at Woden and the vehicle had been removed from service.
The spokeswoman said ACTION was inspecting a random sample of its compressed natural gas buses to determine if the loose fitting was an isolated problem. She said if further loose fittings were found, the entire bus fleet would be inspected.
The gas leak follows a similar incident when gas was vented from an ACTION bus during refuelling at Tuggeranong bus depot about 6.15pm last Friday, although the spokeswoman said the cause was different.
A spokesman for Territory and Municipal Services said when the gas safety valve on the bus activated, the staff responsible for refuelling the bus performed an emergency shutdown of the gas refuelling station and followed emergency procedures.
He said Tuggeranong bus depot was accessible only to staff, so there was no public risk.
ACT Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe said inspectors were working with ACTION to investigate the incidents, and compressed natural gas buses were designed to release gas as a safety measure when problems occurred.
He said it was too early to tell whether anyone was put at risk during the gas releases.
The TAMS spokeswoman said an ACTION maintenance contractor had twice checked and cleared the gas refilling plant for correct operation and ACTION refuelling staff were inspecting pressure gauges on all buses after they are refuelled to double-check correct refill pressure.
