Power cable cut closes Britomart

By STUART DYE

A workman who accidentally cut a power cable is thought responsible for causing the evacuation of the Britomart transport terminal.

The catalogue of problems at Auckland's downtown train station grew longer when the terminal had to be evacuated yesterday morning.

The underground centre suffered a power cut and about 40 people were told to leave, shortly before 10am.

The problems were exacerbated by the escalators not working.

Passengers had to wait for the lifts or tramp up two flights of stairs to get out of the transport centre.

Britomart was closed for around half an hour as engineers worked on the problem. It meant extra delays to train services for most of the day.

Jo Ireland, a spokeswoman for Auckland Regional Transport Network, said the evacuation was a matter of public safety.

"The power cut meant the lights stopped working along with the fans which discharge the pollution," she said.

"No trains could get out for about 40 minutes so all lines [were] running behind."

It is the latest in a long line of troubles for the new station, which has been criticised for problems ranging from trains running late to a lack of toilet facilities.

A spokesman for Tranz Metro said it was believed a contractor working above ground had cut through a power cable.

The Britomart centre opened last month and the bus terminal on August 3.