Subscribe to RSSCat Attack On Wellington Train
A cat suddenly attacked a Wellington train manager and scratched him severely on the hand.
The train was at Wellington station, being readied for a trip to Masterton.
The grey short-haired male cat had snuck on board and leapt up at the train manager after he noticed it and tried to catch it.
KiwiRail marketing and communications manager Nigel Parry told me the train manager needed medical attention and the train was held up until a replacement train manager was brought in.
He says it’s an unusual incident that no one can remember ever happening before. The cat’s owner has not been found and the cat is being cared for by the SPCA.
It sounds such a crazy story I thought it might be April 1 - but Nigel assured me he himself had seen the train manager being bandaged up after the attack.
Lesson is: cats don’t like travelling on trains.
12 Comments
oh dear! as a cat-lover i hope they don’t put him to sleep. :’(
and wtf is with the chalk board and a disused electronic one?
and wtf us up with being a cat-lover?
Cats don’t like being caught, I guess. He should have chased it out instead, but was probably afraid it was a passenger’s escaped cat…
[...] graue Kater verbittet sich die Bezeichnung “streunend”. Er wollte sich nur die S-Bahn ansehen. Und [...]
The lesson is: Don`t catch an unknown cat without leather gloves or, better, leather suit!
We in Germany aren’t sure, what’s the job of a train manager, unless he’s catching cats. Is it the driver or the conductor or both?
for Carl
A train manager is the new name for a guard.
A train manager is a term used in NZ for long distance and regional passenger train services.
The Train Manager is basically in charge of the train crew consisting of the engine driver and extra carriage staff depending number of carriages being used for the service.
There needs to be 1 crew member for every 50 passengers or carriage load especially on long distance passenger train services.
The Train Manager is the person that passengers blame if anything goes wrong.
For suburban trains in Wellington, they are still call guards.
Not sure what they are called in Auckland.
HI all,
Just a point as a Tranz Metro employee I know that the story has been glossed and spiced etc. The cat was actually quite happy to be caught. He was picked up and purred happily in the arms of several staff. It was only when they tried to put him in a box for the trip the SPCA that the trouble started..
For Kris- the Train Manger is in charge of ON Board Staff and operation in the carriages. The Loco Engineer (driver) is in overall charge of the train. In Wellington Metro, we are also refered to as Train Managers.
gah! i hate over-the-top articles. oh well. whats news is news.
For Grunter
According to the guys & girls in Christchurch - the Train Manager has the final say in regards to the safety of the passengers.
Sure the Driver calls the shots in regards to traffic operations but the Train Manager is the face of the rail operator and cops the flack from the bosses and the passengers if anything goes wrong.
Long distance trains do not have the luxury of instant support like suburban operations especially if you are stuck in the middle of know where, like between Waipara and Mina or Mt White Bridge and Bealey Bridge which has happened in past.
Kris-
Are you suggesting that I don’t know my job? And I have worked on long distance also.
Safety of passengers, yes that would be in charge of the on board staff and operation of the carriages would it not? Which is what I said. And you agree that the LE has the overall say. So which prt of my post are you actually disagreeing with?
The rule book is quite clear on who has the final say.
lol chalk board .. New Zealand is really keeping up with technology .. i guess its got that human touch