Investigators begin work at site of train crash
Sunday, 7 June 2026
'Munted' is how one onlooker has described the mangled remains of the train that crashed on Wellington's Johnsonville line.
Curious families and dog-walkers in the suburb of Khandallah have been flocking to the site on Sunday, which is cordoned off by police tape.
Residents reported hearing a huge thunderous boom about 7:20pm on Saturday, between Box Hill and Khandallah stations, and emergency services rushed to the scene.
Nine people were on the train at the time, and police said six were injured and taken to hospital by ambulance. Wellington Free Ambulance told RNZ four people had minor injuries, and two people were in a serious condition on Saturday night.
One resident who heard the bang of the impact told RNZ it was a hive of activity afterwards, with train staff and paramedics helping passengers off the smashed train.
He said he'd never seen anything like it in his 50 years living near the track.
'I thought, 'It's jumped the rails' or something like that. Then I saw that it had gone off.'
Another onlooker, Brian, stopped to investigate the train on his Sunday morning walk.
'It's hit something and it's clear that's smashed into the front of the train. It's clear that one of the side doors has been knocked out.
'That's not supposed to happen on rail, it's a safe mode. So, I'm sure they'll be getting to the bottom of that as quick as they can.'
It was a depressing sight for his friend, Dave: 'Very sad to see the Johnsonville line in strife like that. Normally it's extremely safe and something has gone very wrong.'
One dog-walker couldn't resist checking out the crash and said it had not dampened his enthusiasm for taking the train in to work.
'Will probably have to drive to work tomorrow. I imagine it will take a wee-while to get that righted. Twenty years I've been on that train and it's the first time I've ever had a problem like that.'
The crashed train would not be moved until the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) and New Zealand Transport Agency investigators had been on site.
Metlink said all trains on the Johnsonville line would be replaced by buses until further notice, and passengers should allow extra time for travel.
Investigators scouring the scene
Investigators have been working through the night and morning at the scene, trying to determine what happened.
It was raining heavily in Wellington around the time of the crash.
A reporter at the scene on Sunday morning said the wreckage was confronting: 'It is completely crumpled at the front, it appears to have hit a concrete buffer which has popped off a door on the side and it's sort of up on a track behind a bunch of houses.“
Workers could be seen throughout the area in high visibility gear, many from Metlink.
Chief investigator at the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) Louise Cook said investigators began working at the site overnight and would like to hear from any witnesses.
“Getting information is vital so we're keen to hear as soon as possible from people who were on the train or who saw the accident occur. We're especially interested in receiving photos or videos.”
Cause unknown, Metlink says
Metlink runs Wellington's rail network and said the cause of the incident was unknown at this stage.
The service that crashed was heading toward Wellington City when the crash happened, communications person Matthew O'Driscoll said.
“The train was diverted to a runoff route after passing a signal, where it was halted by a concrete stop block,” O'Driscoll said
'These concrete blocks are designed to stop trains progressing further. They were installed in 2025 as part of a KiwiRail upgrade programme. After hitting the block the train wheelsets (bogies) left the track,“ he said.
'You may have seen images of the train carriage shared online. From initial observations it looks like the crumple design performed as expected.
“To the best of our knowledge at this time, there was no derailment prior to hitting the block,” O’Driscoll said.
Greater Wellington Regional Council Daran Ponter earlier said: 'I am aware of speculation in the community that the accident is the consequence of a derailment. But this is only speculation.'
KiwiRail chief metro officer David Gordon said work was under way to find out the cause of the 'gut-wrenching' incident.
'Firstly, thoughts go out to those people [involved] … even if they are not hurt, they'll be in some form of shock I would imagine.'
One of the injured was the train driver, who hit his head in the crash.
Gordon said the collision happened where double tracks merged into single tracks. The train had come to rest against a block of concrete designed for that purpose.
Jo Hosie rushed to the scene after finding out her friends were on the train and saw multiple people injured.
'We've seen them all getting carted to the ambulance on the stretchers and that,' Hosie said.
Mother claims children hurt
A commenter on a Wellington social media page said her three children were among the passengers hurt in the train crash.
All three were able to walk off the train, but they were taken to hospital: 'Thankfully [they're] all OK, one has a huge cut to the top of his head, he's been glued back together.“
She understood two of the other injured were staff on the train, and the remaining person injured was another passenger.
A TAIC spokesperson said on average, rail investigations take about 18 months, but each investigation 'takes as long as it takes', and could be up to four years.