‘Hugely disruptive’: Speed restrictions for Wellington trains, council blasts KiwiRail

Hundreds of thousands of Wellington rail commuters will be affected by the speed limits and reduced timetables. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Speed restrictions are being put on Wellington trains because a piece of equipment used to ensure safety is broken, which the regional council says is a “monumental failure” by KiwiRail.

A 70km/h speed limit will be in place from Monday and train services will run at reduced timetables, affecting hundreds of thousands of rail passengers.

KiwiRail’s one specialist track evaluation car, which measures tracks across the country so trains can operate safely, is broken.

Inspections on the Kāpiti, Hutt Valley and Wairarapa lines are overdue, making them non-compliant, so temporary speed restrictions have been imposed until the evaluation car is fixed.

Greater Wellington Regional Council chairman Daran Ponter said KiwiRail’s safety equipment failure showed an abysmal lack of accountability and management.

“To be clear, this is a monumental failure by KiwiRail. The poor maintenance of this essential piece of equipment is holding the entire North Island’s rail network hostage.

“If ever there was a perfect example of a lack of prudent management and accountability for critical rail infrastructure in this country, here is exhibit A.”

Ponter said it would affect rail passengers, harm tourism, and put a “stranglehold” on the freight industry using rail and ferry connections.

The first the council and Metlink knew about the equipment failure was late yesterday, Ponter said.

“It’s not clear how long KiwiRail have known about this but to only give Wellington three or four days’ notice before the restrictions are in place is simply ludicrous.

“It’s put significant pressure on Metlink staff to roll out new timetables, our operator Transdev to re-roster staff, and our rail and connecting bus passengers whose lives will be tipped upside down.”

KiwiRail chief operations officer Siva Sivapakkiam apologised for the delays.

“This will be hugely disruptive to many and we apologise for this unplanned inconvenience and the late communication.”

Sivapakkiam said the broken machine was highly specialised and inspected rail lines across the country, doing the kind of fine detailed work that could be done by KiwiRail staff using hand-held equipment.

He likened the outstanding inspections of the track network in Wellington to a car’s warrant of fitness expiring.

KiwiRail had been using the machine in Wellington three times a year, for many years, without disruption, he said.

“We are working as quickly as possible to repair the track evaluation car in Auckland and get it to Wellington to carry out the inspections. It could take up to three weeks to remove the speed restrictions, but if we can do it faster, we will.”

Metlink is moving to a reduced timetable from May 1, with Wairarapa services running as normal. Shuttles will replace Melling Line trains between Melling and Petone.

These timetables are expected to be in place for at least the next week.