Wairarapa woman describes trying to stop runaway car as it crashed onto train tracks

The incident happened about 7am at Featherston Station.

A shocked driver is counting herself lucky she wasn’t hurt after her car rolled across a Wairarapa train station platform and crashed on to the tracks with her inside this morning.

Lee Carter had backed into a car park at Featherston Station about 7am when the incident happened.

“I normally reverse until my car gently hits the curb so I know it’s up against something, and it did,” she said.

“I got out to get my Snapper (transport card) out of my bag and ... check I was in the park properly. I had the door open and... I noticed the wheels started moving.”

Carter said the wheel rolled over the curb “like the curb was nothing”, and the car began rolling backwards towards the tracks. The park itself slopes down towards the track and is barely a metre away from the edge of the platform, she said.

“I tried to jump back into the car to put the handbrake on. By the time I had jumped in, it must have been when it was kind of airborne going off the platform before, you know, I was sitting in a car on a track - a track that the train was due to come into in five minutes time.

Lee Carter was able to move her car off the main part of the track.

“I’m sitting on the track and the people are looking at me from the platform in disbelief.”

A man jumped down and ran over to her, telling her to quickly drive the car off the tracks before the train came. Carter was able to move out of the path of the trains so they could still go past.

Emergency services arrived and, after the trains had safely passed, the car was moved off the tracks.

“This could have potentially been worse,” she said, noting the platform was higher than most and it was “quite a drop” down on to the track.

“I wouldn’t recommend to anyone to try and get in the car while it’s rolling off the platform. Potentially I could have actually slipped and gone underneath the car.

“It is actually quite a frightening experience if you’re just not ready for that kind of stuff. You’ve come away unscathed physically, but you don’t think about how traumatic it was until a bit later.”

Carter said all that was going through her mind was “I’ve got to stop this car from getting on the track, like, right now”.

The crash happened abou 7am at Featherston Station.

The speed with which the incident happened stunned her.

Carter’s husband came over from Martinborough, hugged her and said “that’s a funny place to park your car, darling”.

“Everyone just started laughing,” she said.

She would be following up with the relevant bodies to see whether something could be done to improve safety at that platform, including a barrier potentially being installed.

She has been commuting to Wellington for 24 years and had never experienced anything like this.

“It’s an accident that can happen to anyone,” she said. “Just be aware of your surroundings.”

A Fire and Emergency shift manager said a car backed on to the tracks about 7am, but was only on the siding, meaning trains could still pass.

Emergency services arrived shortly after the crash.

Firefighters attended and helped to remove the car, and there were no injuries.

“It was just a pure driving mistake, as you do sometimes,” she said.

A Greater Wellington spokeswoman said the car had been removed later in the morning and caused no further impact to Metlink services.

“The 6.20am and the 6.47am services from Masterton were both delayed by about 15 mins as a result of the incident,” she said.

Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 12 years.