Commuters arriving on the Kapiti line. Photo: RNZ / Krystal Gibbens
KiwiRail has apologised for a "power supply failure" that suspended train services across the capital this morning.
The fault cancelled all trains early on Thursday, with services resuming just before 8am. But shortly after 8.30am Metlink advised that services on the Kāpiti, Melling and Hutt Valley lines had been suspended again.
The service suspension, which occurred during peak hour, saw hundreds of passengers waiting at stations around the region for bus replacements - many of which were reported to take over an hour to arrive.
Although power was restored before 9.30am, delays have continued following the disrupted morning.
KiwiRail said as of shortly before 1pm Thursday, trains were now running normally to and from Wellington Railway Station.
Commuters arriving on the Kapiti line. Photo: RNZ / Krystal Gibbens
KiwiRail Wellington Metro Programme Director, Andy Lyon, said the signals around the station, which had stopped working around 6am, initially stopped services coming into and leaving the station.
He said a temporary repair was initially undertaken which allowed some trains access, and a full repair was then undertaken.
"We take this morning's incident seriously and regret the disruption to passengers. We apologise to all those affected.
"The fault was caused by a power supply failure which we are investigating. It appears to be due to a faulty component which has now been replaced," Lyon said.
He said the signalling system was running normally and no further disruption to services is expected.
"The equipment was installed by specialists over the Christmas break, as part of upgrades to the Wellington network.
"There is no evidence to suggest there is any issue with the installation and KiwiRail is contacting the equipment supplier as part of our investigation."
Lyon said KiwiRail would investigate what happened with the power supply, any contributing factors, and any changes required to ensure it did not happen again.
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