Some trains are now running in Auckland after today's total outage, with Auckland Transport telling commuters to "expect further delays and cancellations".
Services were suspended on all four lines for a number of hours.
Auckland Transport said in a statement this afternoon the initial issue affected the Eastern line and was fixed before 10am.
However due to ongoing industrial action, some crews would not work any altered plans outside their master roster.
"The track issue occurred at about 7.30am and initially resulted in the suspension of just the Eastern Line," Auckland Transport rail franchise manager Craig Inger said.
"It was fixed by KiwiRail just before 10am, however Auckland One Rail train crews were displaced as a result of the disruption and their unionised staff are not working any altered plans outside of their master roster. This means Auckland One Rail were unable to provide any train services from about 10:30am.
Inger said: "Industrial action is ongoing and there may be some further cancellations throughout the afternoon and into the evening. Live departures and journey planner will be kept up to date with the latest information on what services are operating.
“We appreciate this disruption is extremely frustrating for our customers and want a resolution to this industrial action as quickly as possible."
Auckland One Rail, the city's trains operator, warned earlier this month that services would operate at a reduced timetable across the network at peak times for an unforeseen period due to planned industrial action.
AOR has been in collective bargaining with the Rail and Maritime Union of New Zealand, with the talks being sent to mediation.
Rail and Maritime Union general secretary Todd Valster earlier told 1News the main issues were a lack of trust in AOR that proposed working groups would resolve longstanding issues.
Valster said the industrial action would consist of a ban on overtime and a refusal to work any shift alteration that varied from the master roster.
Impacts on commuters
The earlier cancellation of the train services meant many were at risk of missing work, courses, home viewings and time spent with children, a 1News reporter at Britomart train station was told.
"I'm going to be a bit late to work now," one commuter said. "I work in New Lynn... I'm going to have to bus, but it will be a bit slower."
He said his commute to work is impacted by the trains "as much as a couple of times a week, but definitely at least once a month".
One mother had to rush home to arrange childcare for her children.
"Well I can't get home now, so I have to try and arrange something so my kids can get home from daycare and school. I'm stuck," she said.
"Yesterday it was the same thing — I had to leave [work] early... to try and catch the last train as there was about four cancellations in a row."
When asked what impact this has on her day to day, she said: "It means I can't get my work done as I'm not working all my hours. More working from home."
"I'm also on the Eastern Line, so we haven't had a great track record as [the Eastern Line] was also closed for nine months. It just makes it more stressful than it need to be — and what should be a pretty simple process, you go to a train station and there should be a train you can catch."
Multiple people 1News spoke to said they were not aware that the trains were not running.
"We didn't realise the trains were cancelled," a group of friends said, as they were trying to travel to Takanini.
"Our day is cancelled, we didn't know the trains are cancelled, it didn't say on the app whatsoever so we thought trains were running."
One man told 1News he was trying to go to Henderson for his course.
He said he takes the trains "from Monday to Thursday" and was en route to Newmarket when he was told to get off the train, as services were stopping.
"They said to bus down [to Britomart], so I bussed down here only for them to tell me its closed again. So I'll just wait here until it opens up again."
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