“This comes after an issue was discovered with the overhead lines on the Johnsonville line at around 1pm, and an overhead line in Kaiwharawhara came down at around 3pm”.
Knight earlier said KiwiRail had maintenance crews working on the fault.
“To complete safe inspections and then complete restorative works, KiwiRail needs to turn off the power at Wellington Station so that the issue can be addressed safely,” he said.
Customers across Kāpiti, the Hutt Valley, Johnsonville and Wairarapa were affected.
Knight said trains would continue to run shuttles between Taita and Upper Hutt, Porirua and Waikanae and Johnsonville and Ngaio until the situation was resolved.
All other services were replaced by buses.
“KiwiRail are aware of the significant disruption this has had on our customers and are using all resources available to restore full power so services can resume as soon as possible,” said Knight.
A spokesperson from the Greater Wellington Regional Council had said it was not clear when services would resume.
“Passengers are advised to seek other means of transport and to check the Metlink website or app before travelling,” they said.
The cancellations follow earlier terminations and delays on some of the lines due to “heat restrictions”.
Heat restrictions have at times been put in place to stop train tracks from warping due to the temperature.
Some of the earlier cancellations had been replaced by buses but it was not yet clear how many services would have bus replacements.
Metlink’s website also crashed earlier today.
