Train cancellations in Auckland as track temperatures soar to 48C

Monday, 12 February 2024

Train disruptions in Auckland due to hot train tracks

• Auckland Transport (AT) said its rail network would be operating at reduced capacity on Monday until 8pm, with 34 trains cancelled due to “heat”.

• AT issued a strongly worded statement accusing KiwiRail of “wrecking the reputation and reliability of Auckland’s rail network”.

• Newmarket Business Association chief executive Mark Knoff-Thomas says commuters have had enough and KiwiRail needs to front the issue.

Auckland Transport (AT) has had to cancel services across three of its lines due to the risk of tracks warping in soaring heat.

And it’s not only the tracks that are getting heated, commuters, businesses and even AT are getting hot under the collar, with the latter issuing a fiery statement accusing KiwiRail of reputational damage against Auckland’s rail network.

Cancellations at the Newmarket train station.

Earlier, AT took to social media warning commuters on Monday that it would be operating at reduced capacity until 8pm.

It said at least 34 train services on Eastern, Western, and Southern lines had to be cancelled.

A spokesperson for KiwiRail said that speed restrictions had been put in place as a result of track temperatures having risen well above the threshold of 40C.

Despite Auckland only expecting to reach a high of 25C in air temperature, the tracks were a lot hotter, they said.

“Steel gets a lot hotter than the air and it retains heat.

“Once the temperature of the track drops, speed restrictions can be dropped, but sometimes with warm nights that might not happen until the next day.”

There were fewer services running on Auckland’s lines on Monday with the tracks being “too hot” to have fast running trains on them.

They said the tracks had gotten particularly hot in South Auckland on Monday afternoon with an area near Ōtāhuhu measuring 48C.

AT issued a strongly worded statement accusing KiwiRail of “wrecking the reputation and reliability of Auckland’s rail network”.

It said the rail network ought to be able to withstand “a mildly warm day” and Aucklander’s “deserved better”.

“It is enormously disappointing that AT is having to cancel train services today because of speed restrictions put in place by KiwiRail.

“These speed restrictions would be unlikely to be needed today if the Auckland rail network was not vulnerable because of numerous known faults,” director public Transport services Stacey van der Putten said.

She said that the issues had been decades in the making and AT was looking forward to working with KiwiRail to fix them before the City Rail Link opened.

Newmarket Business Association chief executive Mark Knoff-Thomas said commuters and businesses had had enough.

“It makes it very hard for people to have faith in the system which is so unreliable… This is really the first full week back of a normal year this week and already we’ve got this problem on day one.“

Knoff-Thomas said AT was taking “massive hits to its credibility”, but it was KiwiRail’s chief executive Peter Reidy that ought to be fronting the issue.

“Obviously im sure there are plenty of cities around the world in much hotter climates than Auckland with successful rail networks and they don’t shut down every five minutes.”

Auckland city councillor Richard Hills spoke out about the debacle on social media saying he had “serious concerns” about KiwiRail’s performance.

“Another day, another excuse. Signal faults, crew issues, operational constraints and now heat? It was hotter last week?,” he said.

“I hope the Minister is working on this? Am asking mayor to contact him.”

Mayor Wayne Brown has been contacted for comment.