Hot weather crashes Wellington train system, 8000 commuters affected

Wellington trains ground to a standstill after 30C temperatures overheated their overhead power supply. Photo / NZME

Record-high temperatures shut down parts of Wellington train network at rush hour this evening, forcing huge delays.

About 8000 commuters had to find another way home after the outage affected the Hutt and Johnsonville lines.

Temperatures in the city passed 30C around 4pm, including a record-high 30.3C in the suburb of Kelburn.

KiwiRail general manager operations Anthony Mills said unusually high temperatures had overheated the wires which provided the overhead power supply on the Hutt and Johnsonville lines.

This led to the cancellation of services on those lines.

"Services are expected to return to normal once temperatures fall, in time for peak tomorrow," Mills said.

"We regret the inconvenience to commuters."

Bus services were provided to people whose train services were cancelled.

But commuters reported "chaos" and gridlock as many people drove into the city to pick up stranded passengers.

Chaos in Wellington as trains cancelled and family & friends rush into town by car. Total gridlock

— Mossman! (@pearofdoom) January 29, 2019