Auckland rail disruption: Mystery damage to train tracks a 'real concern'

Saturday, 15 August 2020

Kiwirail expects replacement of worn Auckland tracks to continue for months (Video from June 2019)

Mysterious damage to half of Auckland’s railway track network has left it needing urgent replacement, meaning commuter trains will run slower and less frequently for the next six months.

Ultrasonic testing of tracks already known to be worn has found their condition worse than previously estimated, prompting the unprecedented repair.

“It’s a real concern to me that the tracks are in as bad a shape as they are,” Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said.

The network speed limit will be cut from 80kmh to 40kmh and journey times will rise by 50 per cent during the accelerated replacement work of some 100km of track.

KiwiRail workers lay track on Auckland’s Manukau Line.

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KiwiRail said it was unsure why the tracks were so worn.

KiwiRail Chief Executive Greg Miller, right, with Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones.

Stuff asked whether it related to new electric trains introduced by Auckland Transport in 2014.

“We don’t know that yet, but we are certainly looking at that,” KiwiRail general manager Greg Miller said.

He said significantly increased rail traffic in recent years also accelerated the wear on tracks.

Some of the network’s rails were 50 years old, others just five years old, and Goff said the cause needed to be understood.

It is not clear whether Auckland’s electric train fleet, bought in 2014, is causing different track wear.

“If you haven’t identified the cause then that is probably going to recur,” he said.

KiwiRail has embarked on several major repair jobs on Auckland’s network over the past 12-15 months. In 2019 engineers walked the entire 200km network, identifying what needed to be fixed.

Repairs and replacements disrupting services were carried out later in 2019.

Miller said international experts were consulted leading to ultrasonic scanning of the tracks.

“There is more rolling contact fatigue on the straights and in the corners, we previously thought it was just the corners,” he said.

KiwiRail had enough new track on hand and enough staff ready to begin accelerated work, he said.

“Specialist rail grinding equipment, which will be used to remediate some of the rail, will arrive from Australia shortly.”

He said historically only three to four kilometres of track had been replaced annually, rising to 34 km over the past year.

Commuters took 22 million trips on Auckland trains in 2019, and patronage had been building towards normal levels after taking a hit during the Covid-19 lockdown earlier this year.

”We want this problem fixed, and as quickly as possible, so that post-Covid-19 we can again rebuild the level of patronage,” Goff said.

The track repair and replacement will be funded under the $1 billion rail upgrade programme for which some Auckland projects were unveiled by the Government in August.