Passengers once again frustrated with Wellington's over-crowded train services

Saturday, 24 February 2018

Metlink is under fire after passengers say they were packed into carriages 'like sardines' following the Waka Odyssey for the opening of the New Zealand Festival.

It's understood there were several carriages on the tracks that were not in use, despite the expectation that crowds in the thousands would flock to the waterfront on Friday evening.

A Paraparaumu Beach resident who travelled from Wellington to Waikanae said trains following the event were quickly filled and was surprised extra trains were not run to cope with the high demand.

The passenger said they were forced to wait 30 minutes before the next available train. He said it was an example of poor service when there were two empty train carriages 'sitting immediately behind the bloated 9.14pm [train].'

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'How many Metlink staff does it take to figure out it would be a good idea to add a couple more cars at that time?'

Metlink has apologised for the lack of trains to service the event.

A spokeswoman for the company said the Kupe Festival Opening Night highlighted issues which led to a 'sudden, unexpected increase in passengers'.

The company was aware it did not have additional train services to cater for the crowds and it was difficult to reorganise carriages or call on extra staff to run them at the last minute. 

'Unfortunately this event did not trigger the process required to plan additional train services. We will be reviewing our event notification process and will do everything we can to avoid this happening again.

'We work closely with event organisers, venues and councils and depend on them to provide event details so that we can cater for the anticipated attendees.'

Metlink has contacted the New Zealand Festival organisers to check if there are any similar events which may require additional transport. 

'We urge all large event organisers to contact us on 0800 801 700 to let us know if they anticipate thousands of attendees arriving or departing an event near a train station at around the same time,' the Metlink spokeswoman said.

It was just last week Metlink admitted it did not have the resources to cope with demand on some Wellington commuter bus routes and struggled with increasing passenger numbers.

A Metlink spokesman said at the time that cancellations and disruptions were not frequent however, there were limited options available when they did happen.

Another passenger travelling on the Waikanae train from Wellington station after the Waka Odyssey said she saw locked, empty carriages at the beginning of the platform.

'So why were we squashed in like sardines? Why aren't we using the spare carriages?'