Auckland train halted by object on tracks, commuters endure three-hour wait

Fifty-two passengers were trapped on an Auckland train for three hours without access to food or toilets after it struck an object on the tracks.

The city-bound train was halted at 8.40pm last night when the object, which Auckland Transport is yet to reveal more details about, badly damaged its undercarriage.

It could not be moved until 11.56pm when a second train arrived to pull it back to Meadowbank Station, a short distance away.

One commuter said at the time the initial crash was scary.

"We hit something that felt very big and there was a metallic grinding sound. It also seems as though the train is on a lean," the passenger told the Spinoff.

They said passengers were getting tired and had been kept in the dark as to what was going on.

"The staff have been walking up and down, getting increasingly agitated (at the passengers and in general). No one has provided us with any information," they said.

"People are hungry, tired and need the bathroom. The mood is very frustrated and people are clearly losing patience. The air is stale and it really stinks."

However, an Auckland Transport spokesman said staff had told passengers "every piece" of information once it became available.

Passengers were also kept on the train partly because it was dangerous to walk along the tracks back to Meadowbank Station and partly because it was not known what the train had hit, he said.

"It was dark and the 700m walk along train tracks would not have been a safe way for the train manager to get 52 passengers back to the station," he said.

"Safety was our paramount concern. we understand this would have been incredibly frustrating for passengers and we apologise for the time it took to get the train moving."

He said Auckland Transport would ensure "the comfort of passengers is given more priority".