A rapid review has been launched into KiwiRail after the sudden breakdown of critical equipment last week led to major disruptions for Wellington passenger rail commuters, the Government has announced.
The review will look into whether the railroad company is appropriately focused on the delivery of reliable commuter services; whether its engagement with stakeholders over the breakdown was adequate; and what changes are needed to prevent a reoccurrence in the future.
It comes after operator Metlink was forced to drop track speed limits to 70 km/h and operate on a reduced timetable this week as necessary inspections are carried out across the network.
The speed reduction is a result of delayed assessments on parts of the network to ensure trains are operating safely. This is due to the "sudden" news of an equipment failure in Auckland, KiwiRail's only specialist rail track evaluation car. It measures to see if tracks can operate with trains on them.
The machine was expected to assess the tracks in Kapiti, Hutt Valley and Wairarapa by Sunday, May 7, but has since been moved forward to Wednesday, May 3, Transport Minister Michael Wood said.
The breakdown of a critical piece of equipment cut Wellington train services in half. (Source: 1News)
In a statement today, Wood called the disruptions in the capital's train services "not good enough and follows other similar instances of service disruptions to commuters on KiwiRail’s network".
"KiwiRail have accepted responsibility for the missteps which will result in further disruptions to services this week, and have reassured me they are acting quickly to restore fully functional services for commuters.
"The Government is committed to making rail more accessible and more affordable for commuters, and events like this are absolutely not acceptable."
A passenger told 1News the woman received abuse this morning after KiwiRail dropped speed limits and slashed the train schedule in half. (Source: Breakfast)
In a post-Cabinet press conference this afternoon, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins was critical of the disruptions.
"We are going to be conducting a review into how KiwiRail found themselves in this position. It isn't acceptable," he said.
"It is a core responsibility of KiwiRail to maintain the tracks such that the commuter rail services can be delivered in a timely and reliable manner and clearly, they've dropped the ball here.
"It's very important that we quickly understand why that happened and that they work as quickly as they can to make sure that those rail services are restored to their normal levels as quickly as possible."
He further criticised the state-owned enterprise's lack of a contingency plan should their critical machinery fail.
"Billions of dollars over the time that we have been in government have been put into KiwiRail for things like basic train maintenance — lack of funding isn't an excuse. And so if they have one piece of machinery that they're reliant on, one would think that they would have taken steps to make sure they've got some backup in the event that something happens there."
The prime minister said a review will be carried out into how they “found themselves in this position”. (Source: 1News)
Minister of State Owner Enterprises Duncan Webb said he requested a "rapid investigation into the management of this event" to ensure KiwiRail "learns from this event, and prevent it from happening again".
He said he expected to receive the findings into the review next month.
It comes after KiwiRail's Paul Ashton appeared on Breakfast earlier this morning to offer an apology to affected commuters.
"This is clearly and solely KiwiRail's responsibility. We have a track evaluation car that needed some urgent repairs which were undertaken on Friday and Saturday in Auckland, we moved the machine to Palmerston North yesterday and the evaluations on the Kapiti line will commence tonight," he said.
"Then we will run through the rest of the lines and have it all completed by the end of the week on Friday if not earlier."
Fix found 'at the 11th hour'
Wellington’s transport service Metlink is furious, saying Kiwirail’s holding the North Island rail network hostage. (Source: 1News)
In a statement this afternoon, Metlink said it is "looking to resume its full weekday rail timetable on Thursday 4 May" in light of KiwiRail's "commitment to finish track inspections on Wednesday after a fix was found for its specialist equipment at the 11th hour".
Metlink general manager Samantha Gain welcomed KiwiRail’s commitment, but warned there is still "Tuesday and Wednesday's reduced services to get through".
"We have been working with Transdev to monitor the performance of the network today (Monday 1 May) and we are adding two extra services over the remaining two days as a result.
"However, passengers should not take news of the extra services as a panacea. We are still operating heavily reduced timetables for the next two days – roughly 50% of what we would ordinarily have in place."
Metlink will be adding trains on the Hutt Valley and Kāpiti Lines on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings to help ease congestion.
"From tomorrow, 6.30am services will run from Upper Hutt and from Waikanae, both trains will have eight carriages. While this will ease congestion, Metlink still strongly encourages those that have flexibility, to work from home. This will help reduce crowding at stations and onboard trains and more importantly free up trains for those that rely on them the most."
Greater Wellington's Transport Committee chairman, Thomas Nash, said disruptions are "never easy on passengers, especially those who need to be at work or appointments in person and have no other option except public transport".
"I want to acknowledge the impact these disruptions are having on people, and I share their frustration. I also want to thank Metlink and its operator Transdev for their efforts. Frontline and back-office staff have been moving mountains to maintain services at very short notice.
"Hopefully we’re through the worst of it now and I look forward to full timetables being back in action on Thursday following KiwiRail's public commitment today."
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