Rail workers fear tunnel disaster

The safety of the South Island's Otira rail tunnel is a serious concern, the union representing railway workers says.

The union claims there has been no emergency evacuation practice in the tunnel since October 2002 and that "bureaucratic inaction" has stopped essential training of mines rescue personnel.

Rail and Maritime Transport Union health and safety organiser Kirsty McNab said yesterday that it could just be down to "good luck" that there had never been a disaster in the tunnel.

The Otira tunnel, 8.6km long and opened 80 years ago, bores through the Southern Alps to link Canterbury and the West Coast.

Last month a report revealed a Greymouth-Christchurch Tranz Scenic train, carrying 268 passengers and six crew, lost traction on the steep incline in the tunnel in March 2004 and slid backwards for up to 30 seconds.

There was also a recent incident in which Tranz Scenic passengers were stranded for a few minutes inside the tunnel in sweltering temperatures after the train stalled.

Ms McNab said staff had not received the training they needed to use high rail track maintenance vehicles to ferry gear into the tunnel in an emergency.

She added that annual emergency evacuation exercises were the least that should be done.

Fire in the tunnel was a huge fear for rail staff because emergency help was so far away, and Tranz Scenic passengers were not supplied with gas masks, she said.

The fact transport operator Toll ran the trains on tracks owned by New Zealand Railways Corporation had made it harder for the union to get action on the issue.

Toll health, safety and environment manager said Toll had only just been informed of the union's concerns.

An emergency evacuation exercise in the Otira tunnel was equivalent to a huge civil defence exercise but Toll had been training staff in other, less busy, tunnels, he said.

- NZPA