Auckland Transport seeks $250,000 from KiwiRail for damage to electric trains
Wednesday, 28 July 2021
Auckland Transport wants KiwiRail to foot a $250,000 bill after 19 commuter trains clipped rails that had fallen from a stack next to the western line in Morningside.
The line was closed and trains had to be taken out of service, checked and repaired after the damage was discovered on June 30.
KiwiRail said the vibrations from passing trains had caused a stack of rail lengths, replaced by a contractor, to fall towards the track.
“While the damage to our assets is troubling, our key concern is that this negligence could have resulted in a serious safety incident,” Auckland Transport’s chief executive, Shane Ellison, wrote to KiwiRail chief executive Greg Miller.
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“We hold most dearly the safety of those travelling on and working the Auckland transport network.”
Miller told Stuff the company took responsibility for the incident and was investigating.
“What we have to take from this is, surplus track [removal] needs to improve, and [be] carved up to make it transportable – we can’t move the long lengths as they have to be cut up,” he said.
The western line was closed at Morningside for the evening following the incident.
It was reopened the next morning, with checks on affected trains continuing at Auckland Transport’s Manukau workshops.
The incident came on top of new disruption on the southern line after quarterly checks of rail wear found 16 “turnouts”, which switch trains from one track to another, needed urgent replacement.
KiwiRail described the multi-year programme to upgrade the standard of Auckland’s track network as “unprecedented”.
It comes after reports in 2019 found decades of under-maintenance had caused serious problems.
“Track infrastructure and fleet can be fixed, our reputation and trust with our customers will take considerably longer to repair,” Ellison wrote to Miller.
Auckland public transport patronage is still 20 per cent below the level it was before being hit by Covid-19 lockdowns and lengthy repairs to the rail lines.
Government underwriting of lost fare revenue to the tune of $115 million has ended.
Ellison fears continued disruption to rail could cost Auckland Transport $7 million, meaning other services might have to be cut.
In a series of questions posed to Miller by Ellison, the Auckland Transport chief executive asked KiwiRail how it would “mitigate the reputational impacts and financial impacts” on it, and its parent, Auckland Council.