Why were 80 train services cancelled in Auckland when it wasn’t that hot?

Tuesday, 13 February 2024

80 train services were cancelled in Auckland on Monday
19 train services have been cancelled between 3pm and 6pm on Tuesday
Some Monday cancellations were due to rail tracks heating beyond 40 degrees - that’s a safety issue on sections of the southern line
Auckland Transport is looking into the cause

Auckland reached a high of 24 degrees Celsius on Monday, nowhere near the top temperatures of recent weeks. So why were train services cancelled throughout the city in the afternoon?

Of Auckland’s 200km rail network, just 4km is impacted by the heat issue, with temporary speed restrictions put in place once steel rails reach 40 degrees, KiwiRail general manager metros Jon Knight said.

It’s a safety issue, affecting the southern line between Ōtāhuhu and Papakura, and that means trains have to travel more slowly over those areas due to the risk the track may have been misaligned by high temperatures expanding the rail length, Knight said.

“We have had high temperatures on the network and heat restrictions in different areas for most of the last three weeks.”

There were 19 services cancelled between 3pm and 6pm on Tuesday, to give passengers certainty for when trains will run, Auckland Transport director of public transport Stacey Van Der Putten said.

So why so many cancellations across the network on Monday?

Newmarket train station on Monday, where train services were impacted by hot tracks.

Not all cancellations were due to the heat issue. An Auckland Transport spokesperson said the heat delays come on top of other temporary speed restrictions in force across the network and the agency is working on getting a breakdown of all of Monday’s cancellations and their cause.

Any issue on any track that delays a train has a compounding impact across the network, the spokesperson explained.

One impact can be that train crew on a delayed service do not get to the start of another service in time which means that service is delayed or cancelled.

4km of Auckland’s 200km rail network are affected by the heat issue.

This is the first time Auckland University’s Dr Timothy Welch, a senior lecturer in architecture and planning, had heard of heat being a major issue for a rail network.

“It certainly doesn’t bode well for the future.”

The international standard is closer to 65 degrees before buckling takes place, Welch said.

“When we have a public transport system that we have under invested in for so long, it is a fragile system and it doesn’t instill confidence in people.”

88 train services were cancelled across Auckland on Monday.

North Shore councillor Richard Hills said he is sceptical of the reason given for Monday’s delays, and although the public had been patient with rail upgrade work, he worried people will look for transport alternatives - which usually meant driving.

Cities like Melbourne and Sydney wait until it’s far hotter to go to heat restrictions, Hills said.

“We’ve had signal malfunctions, track faults, other constraints, crew issues. The list goes on. I don’t think there’s been a day this year when there hasn’t been some sort of restriction on the network,” he said.

“We need everyone to sit down and work together and ensure they are doing everything to reduce the faults across the network.

“Climate change is going to make it worse.“