Rail crossing risk relieved

Work goes on at a Morningside level crossing after a near-fatal incident involving a woman in a wheelchair. Photo / Doug Sherring

Rail workers were yesterday fixing crossings after a wheelchair-bound woman was nearly killed after a wheel on her chair became jammed.

The woman is in a critical condition in Auckland City Hospital after being hit by a freight train on the crossing in Morningside on Monday. Three people rushed to help when her electric wheelchair became stuck, but she was hit and dragged along the ground.

KiwiRail spokeswoman Kimberly Brady said 54 Auckland crossings had been inspected this week to measure distances between the rails and wood supports.

She said two required urgent works - at Glenview Rd in Glen Eden and Sarawia St in Newmarket - as well as the Morningside crossing.

"We have already put temporary fixes in place to make sure all those gaps are filled," Brady said.

"They have been upgraded but there are different issues at each location but I can't go into the technical details with you because I don't know them, but we do have regular track inspections and obviously as soon as we found that there were not as extensive gaps in those other locations, but gaps we weren't happy with we got them filled."

Matthieu Mereau, 24, who had tried to help the woman, said he was receiving counselling after the incident.