KiwiRail bosses called into Beehive to explain major disruptions to Wellington rail services

KiwiRail bosses have been called to the Beehive Monday morning to explain major disruptions to Wellington rail services.

Transport Minister Michael Wood has asked executives of the state-owned enterprise for an explanation of what has occurred with the service and how they planned to fix it.

KiwiRail revealed late last week that speed restrictions would be put on Wellington trains because a piece of equipment used to ensure safety was broken.

Beginning this morning, a 70km/h speed limit will be in place and train services will be running at reduced timetables, affecting hundreds of thousands of rail passengers.

Last week, the regional council described it as a “monumental failure” by KiwiRail.

Now the Government is also demanding answers. It has invested $8.6 billion since 2017 on improvements to provide a more resilient and reliable transport network.

“Much of this is the bread and butter of our network, replacing track, new culverts and bridges, upgraded turnouts, all of which are needed for a safe and effective network,” Wood said late last year.

KiwiRail’s only 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.

KiwiRail said on Saturday it was aiming to fix the problem in days rather than weeks.

Track assessments would begin this evening and if all went according to plan, the speed restrictions would be lifted on Friday night “at the latest”, said chief operations officer Siva Sivapakkiam.

Sivapakkiam said he appreciated that there would be disruption to normal commuter services in Wellington and he apologised for the inconvenience.

On Friday, 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.”

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.