Another train experienced technical problems this morning at Once station, when its breaks caught fire. The incident occurred only five days after the fatal train crash which claimed the lives or 51 people and left more than 700 injured.

At 7.30am passengers reported “sparks” as the train pulled into Once. When the operator attended to the faulty breaks a fuse blew causing a fire. Although the fire was immediately contained, the maintenance worker was sent to hospital, suffering second-degree burns. Hundreds of passengers were left stranded for five hours.

Arguments broke out amongst commuters over whether the train should continue. Several passengers remained concerned in the wake of last week’s accident.

“There were eight people who were against the train continuing to travel,” a passenger reported to Radio Mitre. ”I strongly disagreed with boarding the train, but I had to because I have no money to go by bus.”

The Sarmiento line, the TBA concession responsible for today’s problems as well as for Wednesday’s crash, has been criticised as unsafe and the trains as unfit to run. Amid growing criticisms, the chief of cabinet, Juan Manuel Abal Medina, reiterated, “This year an investment of 12 billion pesos will be invested into the old railway system.”

Marcos Cordoba, 28, the driver of the train involved in the Once crash, claimed he had warned the train company, TBA, of break problems prior to the crash. The company today claimed that this was not the case, and issued a further statement apportioning the blame to “human error.”