Waikato council boss defends Te Huia's safety system after two carriages separate on tracks

Tuesday, 20 July 2021

The coupling that was holding the carriages together was “brand new” regional council boss Russ Rimmington said.

The head of the Waikato Regional Council is defending the safety of the Te Huia train, after two carriages detached on the tracks on Monday night.

And a top KiwiRail executive says the agency has launched a thorough investigation into the “very rare” event.

Two carriages on the Auckland to Hamilton route separated about 5pm while travelling between Papakura and Paerata.

Automatic brakes kicked in and stopped both parts of the train.

None of the 56 passengers or three crew aboard the train were hurt, KiwiRail’s acting chief operating officer Walter Rushbrook said.

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An investigation is under way into what caused the train to detach.

Tuesday’s 5.46am service from Hamilton was cancelled, and the 6.25pm return services from Papakura will be replaced by buses.

Waikato Regional Council chairman Russ Rimmington told Stuff the train’s coupler, used to connect rolling stock, was “brand spanking new”.

“This was a new coupler, not the one we tested during the two-month testing prior to the service starting.”

Rimmington did not know why the carriages separated, as KiwiRail operate the locomotives and rail infrastructure, he said.

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The carriages themselves are originally British Rail Mark 2s from the 1970s, and cost about $600,000 each in refurbishment, he said.

He said the incident was “regrettable”, but that safety systems kicked in “perfectly” after the incident.

KiwiRail stopped the train immediately and no-one was injured, Rimmington said.

“I would be very surprised if KiwiRail don’t deeply go through and find out where this error occurred, how it occurred, I haven’t heard of decoupling for the last 40 years.

“They are going to have a very serious look at this issue at what happened, because while no-one’s life was threatened, it’s not good for confidence in some ways.”

Rushbrook told Stuff the incident was a “very rare, one-off” event, and he did not yet know why the carriages broke off.

The Te Huia passenger rail service between Hamilton and Auckland is expected to resume in late January (file photo).

“It's too early to say what the actual cause was, but we will get to the bottom of it in due course.”

Couplers are like two metal hands that fit tightly together, joining the carriages.

A full investigation team will look at the quality of the couplers, as well as train handling and track conditions.

During the event, passengers may have seen bits of cable break off with the carriages, or smelt a burning odour when brakes kicked in.

Rushbrook said he could understand how passengers would have got “a fright”, but the safety systems worked as designed and passengers should “take confidence from that”.

Passengers’ lives were not in danger, he said.

After the carriages detached, passengers in the separated carriages were moved in to the front carriages once the train rejoined.

“We kept the passengers informed at all times and looked after them by taking them to Pukekohe and transferred them to another train and bus.”

The two affected wagons would be taken out of service, but all services would continue, including the inaugural trip to downtown Auckland’s central Strand station on July 24.