Delays, cancellations on all rail lines in Auckland after fire alarm activated

Auckland rail passengers are being warned to expect delays and possible cancellations after two major train lines in Auckland were put on hold on Saturday afternoon.

At 4.30pm Auckland Transport said southern and Onehunga train lines had been put on hold until clearance was received following a fire alarm activation at the Newmarket Train Station.

“Some Western Line trains will run direct between Grafton and Parnell Stations, others are on hold until clearance.”

Two rail buses had been organised to run between Britomart and Otahuhu and were expected to start by 5pm.

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“Please expect delays and cancellations on all rail lines. Scheduled buses will accept train tickets,” Auckland Transport said.

Then shortly after 5pm Auckland Transport said Newmarket Train Station had been reopened and trains would be resuming their journeys.

“Please expect delays and possible cancellations while trains return to schedule.”

This comes after Auckland’s rail commuters faced mass cancellations on Friday after numerous services were cancelled on Auckland’s Southern, Eastern, Western and Onehunga lines.

Shortly after 6am Friday, Auckland Transport (AT) said all Eastern and Southern line services were cancelled between Ōtāhuhu and Briotmart. Western line and Onehunga line services were also cancelled.

At 11.15am, AT said train services across the network had returned to normal schedule, but a Stuff reporter waiting for a western line service into the city, said no trains had arrived since 10am.

KiwiRail’s chief operations officer Siva Sivapakkiam apologised for the disruptions and said the outage had been caused by overhead lines arcing after wet weather moved contaminants onto an insulator.

“Unfortunately there will still be flow-on cancellations and delays all morning as a result of the enormous disruption to our services so far,” Manager Metro Services Darek Koper said.

“Tens of thousands of Aucklanders rely on our rail network every day. It’s hugely disappointing and frustrating that we’re not able to operate our services as usual.”

Auckland Transport said it would meet with KiwiRail senior executives on Friday afternoon to discuss the issue.

The cancellations come on top of years of major shutdowns across the network on which about 50,000 trips are taken daily.