The distressing reports from the latest report from Oranga Tamariki, Efeso Collins' impact and Auckland Airport is calling for the government to look into their redevelopment plans to keep airfares low in the latest NZ Herald headlines. Video / NZ Herald
A total signal failure across the Auckland rail network this morning could have ended in disaster and is causing ongoing delays, some up to 40 minutes long.
It has led to a public transport advocate calling for an immediate Government inquiry of the network after a string of failures this year has frustrated commuters.
Trains remained halted for at least 23 minutes this morning while the “technical issue” was resolved.
The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) said the Government needed to step in for the sake of Auckland rail passengers.
”We need a Government inquiry to find out whether the way Auckland is running is actually adequate, because all signs are showing that it’s not,” said national coordinator Jon Reeves.
He said he was deeply concerned that the year had already been a “disaster” for Auckland commuters after only six weeks in to 2024.
”You’ve got KiwiRail running the tracks and trains, the Australian-Singapore company Auckland One Rail doing something in-between but making profits and sending it overseas and Auckland Transport trying to manage it and at the end of the day, we’ve got a mess.”
Trains remained halted while the “technical issue” was resolved.
“Signals are similar to traffic lights and ensure safety by making sure two trains do not enter the same section of track,” Knight said.
“All trains were moving again by about 9.45, but the incident resulted in affected services being delayed, varying between 10 and 40 minutes.”
Reeves said the network’s reliability has become worse after re-opening from large summer rail closures for maintenance and improvement works to be conducted.
“Auckland’s rail network is a complete embarrassment by comparison to overseas rail systems, none of them are going through this,” he said.
“It’s no longer a joke for rail commuters, the joke ended a couple of years ago.”
Dr Timothy Welch, a senior lecturer in urban planning at the University of Auckland, said today’s signal failures had the potential to “wreak havoc” on the network.
Welch said while today’s issues weren’t so much dangerous, it would completely throw a train timetable off.
“It’s really concerning because it does impact people’s confidence in public transport at a time when we’re really trying to boost ridership back up and when we’re seeing numbers start to climb again,” he said.
Welch added that if the constant issues continue, he imagines Auckland commuters would turn to other forms of transport.
“We’re under-developed in our rail system as it is, so even when our fairly limited rail system starts to become unreliable, it is concerning for sure,” he said.
Auckland Transport (AT) said the KiwiRail signal issue has now been resolved but there were ongoing delays and trains on one line were being diverted.
The Onehunga Line was inactive between Britomart and Newmarket and all the trains had been delayed for at least 15 minutes.
Due to Kiwirail Track infrastructure issue all rail services have up to 15 minute delays until further notice. Onehunga Line detours have been activated, check journey planner https://t.co/o4p9zzrWdP for latest information. Scheduled buses accepting AT HOP cards and rail tickets. https://t.co/K0m5Xr7Rj0pic.twitter.com/Y4f0bAujkI
— Auckland Transport Travel Alerts (@AT_TravelAlerts) February 21, 2024
“Please expect delays and some individual train cancellations while recovery is in place,” AT said.
General secretary of the Rail and Maritime Union, Todd Valster, said when the signal fails, it automatically defaults to red.
“This signal failure, while it would have inconvenienced the travelling public and staff, the signal failures do not put passengers and staff at risk,” Valster said.
“There are procedures for safe running if the signals failed for a longer period.”
More than 1300 train cancellations in just over a month
This fresh set of delays and cancellations comes as it was revealed that between January 15 and February 22, there were 1303 AT train trips cancelled. This is three times higher than in previous years.
The top three causes were track speed restrictions (including heat restrictions) with 306 cancellations, motor point issues with 189 and temporary train manager shortage with 184.
Cancellations peaked between February 5 to February 11 with 386 cancellations that week.
KiwiRail said it would be carrying out an “aggressive plan” to fix the issues.
AT’s director of public transport Stacey van der Putten said it was “enormously disappointing” the transport body had to cancel services because of speed restrictions put in place by KiwiRail on the network due to “hot tracks”.
“These speed restrictions would be unlikely to be needed today if the Auckland rail network was not vulnerable because of numerous known faults,” van der Putten said.
Red light runners
In July 2023, NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) issued a prohibition notice to KiwiRail after two incidents of drivers on the Te Huia Hamilton to Auckland service failing to obey red signals.
NZTA director of land transport Neil Cook said at the time that KiwiRail would be required to install a “gold standard” European Train Control System (ETCS) - a system which KiwiRail executive general manager of operations Paul Ashton said would take years to implement.
However, the rail regulator lifted the ban two weeks later after alternative resolutions were decided on.
KiwiRail executive general manager of operations Paul Ashton said the alternative solution now installed on Te Huia will automatically stop the train if it passes a red signal, whereas the preferred solution is a predictive system which slows the train down as it approaches a red signal.
Te Huia faced sanctions after running red lights last year.
It later emerged that, despite being aware other passenger trains were running red lights, NZTA only sanctioned the Auckland to Hamilton service.
At the time Te Huia was sanctioned over safety concerns on July 11, NZTA knew of eight other passenger trains which ran red lights earlier in the year.
But Te Huia alone faced sanctions.
NZTA said it was concerned the train was a safety risk after two reports of it running through a red signal.
The train was forced to stop its service on the outskirts of Auckland in Papakura. However, two weeks later on July 28 the full service was told it could return from August 7.
Information provided by NZTA to RNZ under the Official Information Act showed between January 1 and the beginning of July, 27 other red signal events were reported across the network. Two of these were Te Huia, two were other Auckland metro trains and six were Wellington metro trains.
The other 17 incidents involved freight trains and maintenance vehicles in locations such as Tauranga, Mt Eden, Huntly and Dunedin.
Rachel Maher is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. She has worked for the Herald since 2022.
