KiwiRail: ‘We let the people of Wellington down’: Operator fronts select committee over train fiasco

KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy says there have been obvious system failures and the state-owned enterprise will be making changes. Photo / Duncan Brown

KiwiRail chairman David McLean says they have let Wellingtonians down after a broken piece of critical equipment and scheduling issues caused significant disruption on the train network.

McLean and other KiwiRail officials were called in to front the transport and infrastructure select committee this morning.

“We let the people of Wellington down this week,” McLean said.

Trains were restricted to 70km/h this week, effectively halving the number of usual services.

Thousands of passengers have been affected, with one saying the situation “was beyond any worst-case scenario I’d imagined”.

KiwiRail initially said the disruption was due because its only specialist track evaluation car, which measures tracks across the country so trains can operate safely, was broken.

This meant the tracks on Wellington’s Kāpiti line could not be inspected by April 30 to remain compliant and avoid speed restrictions.

But KiwiRail later said there was also a scheduling problem. The tracks on the Kāpiti line weren’t scheduled to be assessed until this month anyway - outside of the compliance period and irrespective of the broken evaluation car.

McLean said the primary mistake was this scheduling failure that was not picked up until it was too late.

“It’s unacceptable that regular track evaluations weren’t scheduled well before the end of the compliance period.”

The Government has launched a rapid review into KiwiRail and the state-owned enterprise has ordered its own external review.

McLean said in advance of the review findings, KiwiRail is amending its forward scheduling of track inspections to include contingency buffers.

“So that unforeseen issues like mechanical work on the machine can be managed without compromising the compliance periods.”

National Party transport spokesman Simeon Brown asked that KiwiRail appear before the transport and infrastructure select committee after the commuter chaos.

“With many questions remaining unanswered regarding when the Wellington train network can return to its scheduled timetables and normal speed restrictions, it is crucial that KiwiRail answer these questions before the committee,” Brown wrote to the select committee’s chairman and Labour MP Shanan Halbert.

“I request that the committee invites KiwiRail to appear before the committee to answer questions relating to this failure, how it occurred, the communications following the failure, and what KiwiRail is doing to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

Halbert said he had also asked

Kiwirail to come before the committee and brief it on the disruptions.

Halbert said the committee was likely to agree and will hear from Kiwirail about 10.15am.

KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy has previously said there had been obvious system failures within the state-owned enterprise and changes will be made.

“When leaders learned of the issue last week, we immediately launched a recovery programme to minimise what we recognise is an unacceptable level of disruption for Wellington commuters.”