Aucklanders may face packed rail commute after 19 trains damaged

Thursday, 1 July 2021

Auckland commuters may have to pack into trains half the normal size following an incident that damaged 19 trains on Wednesday.

However, an Auckland Transport (AT) spokesman said he expected smaller trains would suffice as commuter numbers were down due to more people working from home and lower student numbers

Every line except one was shut down on Wednesday evening after it was discovered old rails left too close to the track were damaging passing trains.

The AT spokesman said engineers worked overnight fixing nine of the 19 trains, allowing AT to run a full schedule on Thursday afternoon.

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Some services on Thursday would have reduced capacity, running as three carriages rather than six, as a result of the incident.

The spokesman said the damage was done to the trains’ dampers – devices designed to absorb shock impulses.

“For the other 10 units we are relying on replacement parts.”

“We recently bought 15 new trains, so that gives us a little room for maintenance.”

The spokesman said it was too early to know the cost of the damages.

KiwiRail is responsible for the repair and removal of old rails, and has been contacted for comment.