Auckland ‘omnishambles’ train disruptions likely to continue

Wednesday, 14 February 2024

Around 100 train services were cancelled on Monday and Tuesday.

Train disruptions in Auckland due to hot train tracks

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown referred to Monday’s cancellations as an “omnishambles”.
The mayor has called for the heads of transport and rail agencies to meet this week to reset expectations and responsibilities.

Auckland rail users have already shouldered around 100 train cancellations in a week that started with what Mayor Wayne Brown referred to as an “omnishambles”.

Brown said the issues were not unusual, but were “badly handled” and has called for the CEOs of AT, KiwiRail and Auckland One Rail to meet this week.

The mayor’s focus is on determining the boundaries of responsibility, a spokesperson said.

“The communication between all three of your agencies has been muddled, often blamed each other, and been described to me as an ‘omnishambles’. I could use other language to describe it,” Brown wrote.

“I’m asking you three to meet with me to explain how these disruptions keep happening and what is being done to both fix it and quickly restore public confidence.”

The train delays and cancellations will continue “until there is some track work done to mitigate it”, Auckland Transport’s director public transport services, Stacey Van Der Putten said.

Train cancellations have been blamed on infrastructure and staffing issues, as well as a passenger alarm being activated.

Of 80 cancellations on Monday, 30 related to temporary speed restrictions, 24 related to heat speed restrictions, 15 cancellations were due to train managers and staff not being available, and 11 cancellations followed when a passenger alarm was activated in a train at Newmarket which was then immobilised, blocking the network.

The train manager and alarm issues were not KiwiRail issues, but the majority of cancellations related to track infrastructure, Van Der Putten said.

Manurewa-Papakura councillor Daniel Newman said Auckland is becoming a harder place to live and travel around.

“The network is running at 85% reliability, and 85% is not good enough for our passengers.”

Manurewa-Papakura ward councillor Daniel Newman, whose area is served by the southern line where the heat delays are happening, said his constituents are “thoroughly pissed off with any disruptions to services whether it be trains, buses, or road closures”.

Auckland rail passengers shouldered around 100 cancellations in the first two days of the week.

“Auckland is becoming a harder place to live, a harder place to travel.”

While Van der Putten has said the rail network needs renewed investment and commitment to ensure the network is reliable in time for the City Rail Link, when the number of trains and services is due to increase, Newman is doubtful that greater financial investment will solve the issues.

“I’m not sure whether this is a money question, or a management question, or an accountability of management question,” Newman said.

“I’m sure money will always be an issue, but quite frankly it doesn’t seem to matter how much money is allocated, I question whether we’re getting value for money.”

On Tuesday, KiwiRail executive David Gordon told RNZ the heat restrictions were all in an area where the rail agency has not had an opportunity to do works.

'We can't control the temperature of the sun, what we can control is the quality of the track as much as possible and clearly in this one we've let the side down,' Gordon said.