Wellington train derailment: KiwiRail halted procurement for upgrade project that could have prevented crash
Officials have confirmed a long-touted project to upgrade Wellington’s rail signalling system, which stalled in February due to funding issues, could have prevented the weekend’s train crash.
Four people were taken to hospital with serious injuries after Metlink’s Johnsonville Line train ran a red signal, diverting it onto a runoff track where it hit a concrete stop block south of Khandallah Station.
A $710 million plan to bring Wellington’s “antiquated” rail signalling system in line with others internationally remains unfunded, and the Heraldcan now reveal KiwiRail has halted work to find a contractor for the project.
A 2021 business case recommended upgrading the region’s network to a European Train Control System [ETCS], an advanced signalling and control system that has the ability to override the driver to automatically enforce train speeds and follow signals.
The upgrade was listed as being approved but unfunded in the Wellington Regional Public Transport Plan released last year.
An earlier report from 2022 described Wellington’s signalling system as antiquated, highlighting the risks of the region’s ageing network infrastructure.
However, a public notice by KiwiRail in late February shows a tender for expressions of interest to undertake the work had stopped, following the decision “to formally cease the current effort”, as it was not funded.
“KiwiRail is now able to confirm that a funding decision for the Wellington ETCS project is unlikely before the 2026/2027 financial year,” the tender notice states.
“Once a decision on funding and the speed of advance is made, KiwiRail will reassess the project and determine future procurement requirements at that time, these will most likely be met by a new procurement process tailored to those requirements, hence the decision to formally cease the current effort.”
Appearing before the Greater Wellington Regional Council transport committee on Tuesday, Tonia Haskell, managing director of train operator Transdev, confirmed an ETCS system could have prevented the crash, following questioning by Upper Hutt Mayor Peri Zee.
“Is it that the European Train Control System would have prevented this if that was in place? Is that right?” Zee asked.
“Yes,” Haskell said.
“Currently all the controls in a situation like this other than the concrete block are manual, so signals are managed manually, our driver drives the train manually, train control controls the exit of the train from the station manually.
“Yes, a European Train Control System would have definitely helped in this situation in my opinion,” Haskell said.
KiwiRail chief metro officer David Gordon said ETCS “may or may not have prevented the incident itself, but it certainly would have reduced the impact”.
“In other words, the train either would have braked in time not to hit the concrete block, or may have hit it, because it’s still there, but much more of a nudge than a whack at speed,” Gordon said.
“It is a relatively common and certainly well proven technology in place in most metros in Australasia, in fact, Wellington is the one that is the unusual one,” he said.
Auckland’s metro network also runs an ETCS system.
Greater Wellington Regional Council chairman Daran Ponter said conversations around implementing ETCS have been happening for some time, but without action.
Addressing Gordon, Ponter said “this ball is just being kicked around somewhere in the public service system”.
Gordon said ultimately, a decision to fund it would fall to either the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) or the Ministry of Transport and Minister of Transport.
“It is a big chunk of money for someone to spend,” Gordon said.
He said the investment may not make economic sense through a cost benefit analysis, but added that “an incident may change that”.
In response to questions from the Herald, Gordon said KiwiRail did engage with contractors through an expression of interest campaign, as part of the business case funded largely by the Government’s three-year Rail Network Investment Programme.
“ETCS for Wellington is not funded, KiwiRail is currently revisiting our business case, with the aim of reducing costs,” he said.
“We expect to share this with NZTA, for its consideration, later this year.
“While Wellington’s existing signalling system is ageing, it continues to deliver safe and reliable protection,” Gordon said.
Haskell said the two staff members involved in the crash both suffered head injuries and are concussed as a result of the collision.
“One of them will stay in [hospital] for a while, he has had a reasonably serious knock to the head and has been admitted, our driver is in under observation, they have bumps and bruises, no broken bones as far as we’re aware,” she said.
Officials are unable to say what caused the train to run the red signal but said it was classed as a “signal passed at danger” or SPAD.
The weekend’s incident was the fourth SPAD incident recorded this year, Haskell said.
“All of them are investigated and all of them are reported to NZTA and followed up, so it is unfortunately something that does occur.”
Ethan Manera is a Wellington-based journalist covering Wellington issues, local politics and business in the capital. He can be emailed at ethan.manera@nzme.co.nz.