Train disruption prompts signal system rethink

Government rail officials will consider providing Auckland with a back-up signals control system after almost four hours of disruption to trains on the region's western line.

The failure of an electronic link through fibre-optic cable which turned all signals to red on Wednesday night disrupted hundreds of passengers, some of whom faced a grinding three-hour journey from Britomart to Waitakere.

Engine drivers had to get out of their cabs at each signal to change it manually to green, after radioing the national train control centre in Wellington to ensure the track ahead was clear.

The malfunction, for which Railways Corporation subsidiary Ontrack was responsible, came as regional rail operator Connex was still enjoying a boom in patronage from the six-day bus strike.

Corporation officials rushed to Auckland yesterday with assurances to Connex that it was taking the breakdown seriously, as the rail operator came under fire from passengers concerned they were not kept properly informed of the problem while stuck on slow trains.

A Herald reporter who found herself on a crammed train which left Britomart at 6.15pm was impressed by the frequency of announcements from staff, but a passenger on an earlier service said nobody seemed to know what was happening.

The woman said her 5.15pm train stopped near the Mt Albert station for almost 40 minutes, leaving her and many others stewing in a carriage which was getting hotter and stuffier by the minute.

"We finally took off and then stopped at Avondale for at least another 35 minutes, and no word of what was wrong," she said.

"At one point I looked out the door and the guards were standing on the platform smoking and talking - Connex must communicate with passengers when things go wrong."

A man who took an hour to reach Britomart from Mt Albert on Wednesday night said he was disgusted on arriving at 6.15pm to see Connex "pushing passengers on to trains like cattle" well before the signals failure was fixed.

Company spokeswoman Tessa Marjoram said it took some time before train staff themselves were able to find out what was happening, because of communication limitations between Auckland and Wellington.

She said some staff were better communicators than others, and the company was trying to teach them to keep talking to passengers even if they had little to tell them.

Ontrack spokesman Kevin Ramshaw said the fault was unrelated to a signals failure on the western line a week ago.

He said that as a result of the latest failure, his agency would re-evaluate an option of introducing a back-up system to relay signals from its Auckland terminal at Westfield to the rest of the region's network.

The Auckland Regional Transport Authority disclosed yesterday it was still negotiating a long-term track maintenance agreement with Ontrack, which it hoped would include penalty and incentive provisions. It pays Ontrack more than $4 million a year.

Mr Ramshaw indicated that a back-up system would be at Ontrack's expense, and not part of a $144 million resignalling and train control expansion planned by the regional transport authority over the next five years.