KEY POINTS:
Auckland rail commuters delayed for hours yesterday have been given an apology but no compensation.
The delays were caused by a signal failure on all lines heading into the Britomart train station.
Passengers were given a letter last night but no compensation.
Ontrack operations manager Carl Mills said the fault affected all lines from 8am until 11.30am.
"A device that establishes that there are no conflicting rail movements on a particular line failed just after 8am," Mr Mills said.
Spokesman Kevin Ramshaw said Ontrack would not be compensating passengers because it did not deal "with the customer interface".
"Delays, while they are hugely regrettable, are a fact of life in transport whether they are in motor cars or waiting for a flight," Mr Ramshaw said. "They are difficult to deal with and very frustrating at the time.
"Whether compensation is justified is very hard to say."
The fault added hours to commuting times. One passenger told the Herald she had to wait more than two hours after the train she caught from New Lynn stopped at several points along the way.
She said passengers were told there would be a wait of five minutes but each wait took at least half an hour.
Passengers were also asked to pay for their journey at the end of the trip and were offered only feedback forms as a consolation.
Train operator Veolia has not offered any refund to the 1500 passengers affected by yesterday morning's fault. General manager Nick French said any refund would come from the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) which Veolia contracts to.
Mr French said the fault was an Ontrack problem and the company was working through any possible compensation with ARTA and Ontrack.
ARTA spokeswoman Sharon Hunter said it was an Ontrack fault and ARTA would not give out any compensation.
"From ARTA's perspective it was a total Ontrack signal meltdown and it impacted on our passengers which is certainly not what ARTA expects or Veolia expects," Ms Hunter said.
