Near miss on train track

A train driver has been stood down after nearly causing a head-on collision by failing to stop at a red light near Auckland's Morningside train station.

The westbound train came within metres of hitting a city-bound train on the same line about 10am on Thursday, delaying services in both directions by more than an hour.

Upgrades to the Morningside station mean trains have been operating on the same side of the tracks, with traffic lights co-ordinating their movements.

Sharon Hunter, communications manager at the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (Arta) said the train driver failed to notice the red light before the Morningside Dr intersection. About 30 people had boarded the train heading towards the city that morning, and 90 people were on the western train.

The driver of the train was immediately stood down.

"Essentially the driver failed to stop when he should have and we are currently investigating the incident," she said. "He was immediately stood down. We have very strict safety procedures so when something like this happens it is not tolerated."

Cameron Pitches, convenor for the Campaign for Better Transport, said Arta and Ontrack, which operates the country's railway networks, had strong driver training processes and procedures needed to be observed at all times.

"We've actually been very lucky in the past because incidents like this are very rare," he said. "As long as everyone follows the rules we won't have more incidents like this."

Paul, a construction worker at the railway station, said the trains needed to be aware of the red lights because one side of the tracks was closed.

"The train was supposed to wait for the green light but he missed it," he said. "There was another train heading towards the city coming down the other way and they ended up nearly crashing into each other.

"There was nearly a head-on collision, but it could have been a lot worse."

Kingslander Phillipa Smith was at the station shortly after the near miss.

"I didn't actually see it happen but the trains were stopped for quite a while," she said.

"It's quite scary really. You'd hope the driver would pay attention and stop when he sees a red light."