KEY POINTS:
Passengers had a hair-raising ride on an Auckland train last night as it rocketed to high speeds and didn't make its usual stops.
The 3.35pm train from Britomart, in downtown Auckland, to Papakura missed three stops after Homai.
The train company Veolia said an announcement was made on board at Homai that the train was running 25 minutes late and would miss the Manurewa, Te Mahia or Takanini stations.
Chief executive Nick French said passengers were told that if they needed to get off at those stops they should wait for the next train, which was a few minutes behind.
"That's something we can use to try and get the timetable back ...
"Whether somebody had on earphones ... and they didn't get off, that might have happened, but everybody was told."
But passenger Alan Cooper, who was supposed to get off at Te Mahia, claims there was no such announcement.
"I've never been on train that's gone any faster in my life and I've just come back from travelling in Europe and I've been on some fast trains. This thing was going. It was out of control and I don't think that's any exaggeration."
He said passengers were screaming and a lot looked ill.
"I looked across at one lady and it looked to me like she'd just decided, 'I'm going to get killed here and that's all there is to it'." He said a conductor walked through the train saying, "Brace yourself, hold on", which set off a panic.
Mr Cooper, who got on the train at Britomart after finishing work in the city, started using the train about six weeks ago but said he would never use one again.
"I didn't think my kids were going to have their dad tonight."
Glenn Macdonald, who was supposed to get off at Manurewa, said he would lodge a formal complaint with Veolia today.
"I was preparing myself for serious injury. Everyone was holding on to their seats."
Mr French said the train was going no faster than the 90km/h limit and the speeding claims were "sensationalised".
