All services were suspended in and out of Wellington due to an ongoing overhead power issue, MetLink said on 10 January, 2024. Photo: RNZ / Jacob McSweeny
Greater Wellington Regional Council says it will be in talks with KiwiRail to get details on what led to the shut down of the Wellington region's trains.
Nearly 140 Wellington commuters were left stranded - some for an hour - on tracks in between stations due to a power outage on Wednesday afternoon.
All rail services in and out of the capital were replaced by buses due to two separate overhead power line failures about 1pm and 3pm.
As a result, three Metlink trains with a total of 139 passengers onboard stopped between stations in Johnsonville, Kaiwharawhara and near the Wellington station.
It took over an hour for 82 passengers stuck in Kaiwharawhara to disembark from the train.
The Kapiti and Johnsonville lines were back up and running, Metlink said just after 6pm.
Metlink said water was delivered to the passengers stuck inside. Shuttles and buses replaced train services while repairs were underway.
In a statement, KiwiRail metros general manager Jon Knight had said they had to turn off the power at Wellington Station for a safe inspection and to complete restorative works.
Greater Wellington Regional Council chair Daran Ponter told RNZ they would be following up with KiwiRail, which maintained the tracks, on the issue.
"We do have instances like this from time to time, it's rare that they close the entire network but, in every instance, there is a report generated."
This could be a taste of the types of incidents in the future if more money was not invested in the rail network, Ponter said.
"I'm not saying this is about the lack of investment particularly, but before Christmas we did advise [the] minister that we need somewhere in the order for $150 million to KiwiRail in the next three years to keep the renewals programme going.
"If that money isn't forthcoming, KiwiRail have already advised us that we would have to in some cases run twice as few trains as we currently do and, in some instances, we would have to close some particular lines."
Last month, a Greater Wellington Regional Council report said there was a billion-dollar shortfall in funding for the capital's rail network.
The report also identified a significant backlog of maintenance renewal programmes that KiwiRail has to deliver in the region.
Earlier, KiwiRail imposed temporary heat restrictions on the train line between Wellington and Kāpiti, forcing trains to slow to 40km/h on several sections of the track.
Heat restrictions are put in place when track temperatures reaches 40 degrees, to stop the track from warping.
Steel rails in direct sun get much hotter than the air temperature.
KiwiRail had said the restriction would be lifted once the track temperature dropped below the 40-degree threshold.
Heat restrictions were common over summer, KiwiRail said, and they could be in place late into the evening during hot summer days.
