Overheating iPod stops rush hour trains in Japan

An overheating Apple iPod bought trains on Tokyo’s insanely busy commuter train network to an unscheduled stop for eight minutes during the city’s early morning rush hour this morning, Reuters reports.

The train was stopped at around 8.20am (Japan) in western Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward while officials investigated the cause of the smell, said a spokesman for Tokyu Corp.

“When a member of staff went to investigate inside the train, a passenger came over showing him that the iPod she was listening to had burst apart,” the spokesman told Reuters, confirming local reports.

The timing is extremely bad. Apple was last month ordered to improve safety warnings following cases of overheating among its first-generation iPod nanos. Apple has since offered to fix these units, explaining that a bad batch of batteries has been the culprit.

What isn’t clear in the current case – the sixtieth known in Japan so far – is what make or model of iPod caused the delay on a line used by one million commuters each day.