ARC calls for action after Britomart rail failure

Signal failure affected all trains travelling in and out of Britomart Station this morning. Photo / Adrian Malloch

The Auckland Regional Council is considering not paying Ontrack for lines management after yet another signal failure caused misery for commuters this morning.

The signal failure affected all trains travelling in and out of Britomart Station this morning. The failure happened between 7.30 and 8am and was fixed at 10.30.

ARC chairman Mike Lee said the council is looking at refusing to pay money for Ontrack out of frustration with the service from the Government agency.

"Clearly somebody in Ontrack must be responsible and that person needs to be fired," Mr Lee said.

He said today was a good day for rail with the announcement of the petrol levy to help pay for the electrification of Auckland's rail but "some clot at On Track has spoiled it".

Mr Lee said the council has spent money trying to convince Aucklanders to get out of their cars and on to a train and the person directly responsible for the signal system "has to go".

"What are they trying to do? Punish our customers?" Mr Lee asked.

Rail passengers have told nzherald.co.nz that a voice over the loud speakers said there would be a 10 minute delay before a further announcement told passengers to get off the train and catch a bus.

The fault affected all trains coming in and out of Britomart between 7.30 and 10.30am.

Ontrack spokesman Kevin Ramshaw said investigations have revealed that the fault was caused by an "electrical problem" in a track-side relay box.

Initially, Mr Ramshaw said a software glitch was to blame.

He said the software is as old as Britomart's refurbishment which was re-opened in 2003.

"We're working to make it more robust," Mr Ramshaw said.

When asked what that entails, Mr Ramshaw said Ontrack was talking to the suppliers of the software "so we can better understand its systems".

Auckland Regional Transport Authority spokeswoman Sharon Hunter said buses were put on for passengers and Ontrack will be paying for them.

Last month there were two similar signal failures that saw trains running more than an hour late.