Rail delays fixed – probably

Train commuters can rest assured that rail problems which caused up to two-hour delays yesterday will not happen again - probably.

Thousands of people were stranded in trains in all parts of Auckland after three major crossover points failed. The points - controlled by a computer system - broke down about 5.20am. Because the points then had to be switched manually, commuters heading into the city were hours late.

Many trains coming into the city stopped at Newmarket, where commuters were transferred on to buses coming into the city centre.

KiwiRail Group public affairs northern manager Jenni Austin said the cause of the failure was still unknown and investigations were under way.

All systems and timetables were running smoothly and on time yesterday afternoon and evening.

Ms Austin said people should not feel discouraged from catching the train today.

"We had a fault [yesterday] morning - it was a major failure and it's the first time that's ever happened - it was a one-off."

Although the systems had been fixed, future failures could not be completely ruled out, Ms Austin said.

"You can never rule out that there'll be another failure in the network. But nobody can tell whether or not that will happen - we encourage people to use the trains."

At the Britomart station yesterday, a stream of people made a mad rush out of one of the first trains to arrive at 9.30am.

Schoolmates Georgina Tonga and Danielle Kahui said they had caught the early morning train from Pukekohe specifically to get to school early for mufti day.

Danielle said: "We were in the train for, like, two hours. I wanted to hurry because it's mufti [day]. But it took ages."

Georgina added: "I woke up at six o'clock this morning and I'm still late for school."

Train enthusiast Steve Ellis, from Derbyshire in England, had been at the Britomart station since 5.30am. Mr Ellis - an engineer for electronic and mechanical equipment manufacturing company Cathelco - had planned to spend the day riding various trains to see how the engines ran.

"I sat around all morning ..."

Mr Ellis said there could have been fewer delays had the points in the track crossed over further back, instead of immediately outside the tunnels before Britomart.

"It would have been sensible to lock the points into a section further back from the tunnels - and just have two straight tracks running to and from the station. Then you'd at least be holding the delays further back and not having to cram every train inside here."