Wellington Rail Work Problems

 

In Wellington, work to upgrade the rail signalling system in preparation for the new Matangi trains ran into unexpected complications today.
Specialist signalling engineers have been working 24 hours throughout the weekend and will continue through to try night to restore regular signalling operations.
But workers may not be able to get things finished.

The work was happening on the Paraparaumu Line.
If this work has to continue on Monday, buses will replace trains between Wellington and Tawa on the Paraparaumu Line from 9am – 3pm tomorrow but there’s some uncertainty about the morning rush hours trains and whether there will be delays or more serious issues.

A  KiwiRail spokesperson says: “We need to alert our Paraparumu Line passengers to the possibility that their journey tomorrow morning is likely to be delayed.

“Our aim is to provide regular Paraparaumu Line services tomorrow morning but passengers may like to consider making alternative travel arrangements, for example carpooling with friends or family.”

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16 Comments

 
  1. Cierat says:

    Another kiwirail management bungle, this never used to happen when the business was in private hands. Not surprising, no one at the top uses the train or actually has railways experience :-(

    Thanks for not surprising us AGAIN. I’ll be taking my car for the rest of the week.

  2. Steve says:

    Aren’t most of the KR management the same as the Toll days? But you’re right this didn’t happen in the private days, there was just no upgrading/renewals, hence the half billion dollars being spent to modernise the network

  3. Cierat says:

    Not 100% sure can anyone confirm but theres a new CEO from NZ Post, new man in charge of Ontrack from NZTA, new lady running Tranz Metro from NZTA, new man running the ferries, new man running the freights, what’s left?

  4. karl says:

    Cierat, I have no idea of whether Wellington’s track record in these things is particularly bad or good, or whether it was particularly good or bad in the past.

    But this “100% attitude” is a bit weird - what do you want? Random chance and good old bad luck being outlawed? A delay is not the same thing as incompetence. They didn’t go into this work thinking “Heck, lets be late on Monday!” Nor does not finishing work under a tight timeline automatically indicate incompetence either.

  5. Kegan says:

    @Cierat
    Can you enlighten us as to what major replacements, upgrades and renewals were done under private ownership?

  6. cierat says:

    Major replacements upgrades and renewals is not an excuse anymore, this has been going on for months with no improvements at all. Catching trains from Paraparaumu over many years, things have been getting worse, not better. Renewals were still carried out under private ownership despite limited funding, and apart from heat restrictions being a problem it was enough to keep things going and get the job done!!! Overseas major upgrades are somehow done without fuss and without months of problems happening again and again and again and again. I’m all in favor of upgrades but we are not talking about isolated delays due to chance or bad luck anymore, we are talking about major failures due to poor planning, scheduling and management. I think with the right people, there would be a lot less problems!

  7. anthony says:

    there might be a minor chance of “bad luck” but like cierat said, a majority is because of poor planning.

  8. Jon C says:

    Aren’t we being a bit harsh?
    New signalling is complicated. the same happened just before the opening of the new Newmarket station- when signalling wasn’t completed as planned on a Sunday night in time.
    It is better they get it right and there is huge time pressure if they only have the weekend to do it without trains getting in the way.
    That is one main reason why Onehunga is not opening yet until the signalling is sorted.

  9. Joshua says:

    Yea, It think it’s a bit harsh as well, we in Auckland have experienced delays due to upgrading the network, as they have in Melbourne, and the UK. It’s not only isolated for New Zealand. Signaling is a complicated upgrade, and I think it’s important they get it right first time, as to not cause ongoing disruption.

  10. Paul says:

    Yip a bit harsh.

    Signaling is a highly skilled job, with shortages globally for people to do the job. Probably lucky to have anyone in NZ to do it.

  11. Cierat says:

    I have to disagree and honestly I doubt many of you actually rely on the train to get you to work on time. Some of us have families to get home to, appointments to keep and have to work through our lunch hours or work late or even on the weekends to make up for the trains letting us down time and time again.

    By accepting a lower standard, we are accepting the lack of experience, public sector slackness, overcharging and shortcomings of the people responsible and avoiding them being accountable. It’s not harsh to expect professional and experienced management to run the show, especially as it’s costing us all an arm and both legs. It’s not harsh to expect the current regime to do at least as good a job if not better than the private sector either, especially as it’s costing more than it should.

    Comparisons with Auckland don’t mean anything as Kiwirail and these same people are responsible for the stuff ups there as well. Other places have never had the extent of issues here with what should have been a relatively straightforward upgrade if some real thought had gone into it and the right people were doing the job.

    Signalling leaves little room for error but it’s not rocket science and we’re not dealing with high speed trains - signalling doesn’t take that long to train up on with the right background. We have to stop relying on, expecting and forgiving incompetence and making excuses, we passengers deserve better than this!!!

  12. dj says:

    They didn’t have these problems in earlier days because there was specialised signal staff. After the railway were sold most of these staff were layed off and work outsouced and now this is what we end up with.
    .

  13. john says:

    Well put Ceira, we need to stop accepting second and third best from the nana state fat controllers that have taken over our trains!

  14. Joshua says:

    Cierat - I’m not saying that we should be expecting the daily delays and constant issues that occur on our train system, particularly the one’s here in Auckland, However they are installing new signaling gear which when installing on new lines usually takes over a week to install. The engineers involved were working 24hr days over the weekend to try and get it complete, this is not just a simple upgrade, it’s a upgrade to the signaling system, a complicated system of wires, hardware and software, swiches and triggers. Getting everything right does take time.

    If anything, Kiwi rail is probably at fault of trying to roll them out to quickly, and should of just said we will shut down the rail for a week, with buses replacing trains, then took the extra time to get it right.

  15. Martin says:

    @ cierat

    I live on the Jubilee line here in London and its overhaul is nearly 2 years behind schedule due to signalling issues etc. I think Welli/KiwiRail are dealing with it pretty well in comparison to be honest.

  16. Jon C says:

    I still don’t understand the degree of angst other than the inconvenience and frustration which Aucklanders also felt too during major changes.
    But how do you swap over electric trains and make the other necessary major infrastructure improvements needed without closing down the rail system for months?
    That’s the alternative and on paper what needs to happen. KiwiRail and Tranz Metro have not closed it down but managed to keep some sort of system going while all this work has been going on but inevitably there will be problems along the way.
    The issue of losing qualified staff when the rail system was run down and sold is another issue altogether and one felt by many sections of the workforce because of past governments action let alone the still continuing brain drain to Australia.

 

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