Rail authorities have launched an investigation after an electric passenger train was incorrectly routed onto a non-electrified section of track in Auckland, damaging overhead equipment and causing widespread disruption to services for much of Monday.
According to a report by 1News, the incident occurred at about 10.30 am near Middlemore station on a city-bound service, leading to major delays and cancellations on the Southern and Eastern rail lines.
A KiwiRail spokesperson said a “signalling-related issue” was involved. Auckland Transport confirmed the Manukau to Waitematā (Britomart) service was “incorrectly routed into a non-electrified area,” as quoted by 1News.
As a result, the overhead line equipment and the train’s pantograph were badly damaged. Twenty-four passengers were left stranded on board the train for around two hours before being safely evacuated.
“A rail incident controller was immediately dispatched to the site to manage incident recovery,” an Auckland Transport spokesperson said, 1News has quoted.
“In the meantime, two train managers onboard the service walked the carriages, updating passengers on the likely delay pending recovery. KiwiRail advised it needed to isolate and earth all overhead lines in the area immediately surrounding the now stranded train in order to make the area safe for a planned evacuation of the 24 passengers onboard, 1News has quoted.
“Once the area was made safe, all 24 passengers were evacuated from the service, out of the rail corridor, and then accompanied by staff to the Middlemore station platform a few hundred metres away.
“This occurred approximately two hours after the initial event and after the isolation works had been completed,” according to 1News.
The damaged train was later towed away from the site. Auckland Transport said evacuated passengers were offered bottled water, and staff remained with them while taxis and buses were arranged to help them continue their journeys.
The incident is being jointly investigated by Auckland Transport, KiwiRail and Auckland One Rail, which operates passenger train services under contract. The rail regulator Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency and the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) were also notified, as reported by 1News.
A TAIC spokesperson said yesterday: “The commission is aware of the reported incident and is gathering information to inform a decision about whether to investigate.”
The disruption caused significant delays on the Eastern and Southern lines throughout the day, with multiple services cancelled during the afternoon and evening peak. Large crowds were seen waiting for replacement buses at Penrose and Ōtāhuhu stations, while trains were terminating short of Middlemore.
Services gradually resumed from about 6.30 pm on Monday. Western line trains were also affected due to crew displacement.
The incident followed the return of trains to Auckland’s network last week after a month-long maintenance and upgrade shutdown. KiwiRail has said the network-wide closure carried out in January would be the final shutdown of its kind for Auckland’s rail system, as reported by 1News.
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