By SCOTT INGLIS
Crash experts are investigating why a railcar towed a stranded train south along a northbound line, leading to a head-on collision in Auckland yesterday.
The two commuter trains - one with 35 passengers on board - collided about 100m south of the Ellerslie station platform just before midday.
Two men and a child were hurt and other passengers and workers were shaken by the accident.
One of the injured men, a Tranz Rail passenger officer, received minor head injuries and was taken by ambulance to Auckland Hospital.
A 77-year-old passenger cut his leg and an 8-year-old boy reportedly hurt his back.
The problem started when one of the Papakura-Auckland City Tranz Metro trains broke down at the platform about 11.30 am. Its passengers were taken by taxi to their destinations.
A railcar was sent from Otahuhu to retrieve the stricken train, which was on tracks for northbound-only trains.
The railcar hooked up with the train and the driver, then travelled south. At the same time, the next northbound train rounded a bend and its driver was forced to brake hard.
A witness, Jason Alkema, who works at neighbouring Smith & Smith Autoglass, watched in horror as the accident unfolded.
He told the Herald that he felt helpless as the trains travelled towards each other before colliding.
The southbound train was able to stop before impact and both trains received only minor damage.
The drivers got out and tended to the passengers.
"I think the drivers reacted pretty good - especially the one heading north."
Passenger Barbara Medcalfe said the northbound train she was in was travelling at a "very reasonable rate" when it suddenly slowed and sounded its horn. "Then all of a sudden - bang."
She said the driver was upset and kept saying sorry to the passengers.
The 77-year-old passenger who suffered a leg wound, Jack Hume, played down the injury as police and Tranz Rail staff escorted him and others to waiting taxis.
Anna Williams, a 22-year-old from South Auckland who was on board with her family from Nelson, said that after the train slowed she heard a grating noise and then the crash.
Another group of passengers, three teenagers planning a day in the city, said they were thrown about.
Children were screaming and crying.
Tranz Rail and the Transport Accident Investigation Commission are investigating.
Tranz Rail officials said it was not known why the first train headed south on the northbound line.
The crash prompted an emergency services alert, with police cars and up to eight ambulances partly blocking the Southern Motorway.
Tranz Rail northern rail operations manager Kevin Edgar said he did not know how fast the north-bound train was travelling. It had left Papakura at 11.15 am and was due in Auckland City by noon.
The drivers are to be interviewed by investigators.
The national secretary of the rail workers union, Wayne Butson, said the union would help the staff involved.
Yesterday's accident comes nearly four weeks after two freight trains collided head-on near Christchurch and follows a nightmare year for Tranz Rail.
Three workers were injured in the dramatic December 8 collision, now the subject of an investigation.
On October 20 last year, Dunedin train driver Graham White, 53, died in a head-on crash at Waipahi, South Otago.
A ministerial inquiry into workplace safety at Tranz Rail, prompted by the deaths of five workers within two years, found the fatality rate compared poorly with international standards.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
Latest from New Zealand
Weather woes: Fog scuppers flights in south, heavy rain and thunderstorms for north
Fog in Chch that affected or forced cancellation of more than 40 flights has now cleared.