A total signal failure across the Auckland rail network this morning could have ended in disaster and is causing ongoing delays, some up to 40 minutes long.

KiwiRail general manager Metros Jon Knight said the signals went down shortly after 9am for about five minutes.

Trains remained halted for at least 23 minutes while the “technical issue” was resolved.

“Signals are similar to traffic lights and ensure safety by making sure two trains do not enter the same section of track,” Knight said.

“All trains were moving again by about 9.45, but the incident resulted in affected services being delayed, varying between 10 and 40 minutes.”

Auckland Transport (AT) said the KiwiRail issue has now been resolved but there were ongoing delays and trains on one line were being diverted.

The Onehunga Line was inactive between Britomart and Newmarket and all the trains had been delayed for at least 15 minutes.

“Please expect delays and some individual train cancellations while recovery is in place,” AT said.

Earlier, frustrated Auckland Councillor Richard Hills questioned AT’s decision to shut down the track.

“I’m not an engineer but surely there’s a better way to manage a track issue than closing down an entire network,” Hills said.

“Government only just invested $330 million to finally upgrade track network but it feels less resilient than before.”

Trains across Auckland were cancelled last week due to the “heat” - causing significant disruption to rush-hour commuters and prompting AT to lash out at KiwiRail.

Last week, AT said potentially one in three train services will be cancelled and the commuter chaos could continue until March.

KiwiRail said it would be carrying out an “aggressive plan” to fix the issues.

AT’s director of public transport Stacey van der Putten said it was “enormously disappointing” the transport body had to cancel services because of speed restrictions put in place by KiwiRail on the network due to “hot tracks”.

“These speed restrictions would be unlikely to be needed today if the Auckland rail network was not vulnerable because of numerous known faults,” van der Putten said.

Red light runners

In July 2023, NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) issued a prohibition notice to KiwiRail after two incidents of drivers on the Te Huia Hamilton to Auckland service failing to obey red signals.

NZTA director of land transport Neil Cook said at the time that KiwiRail would be required to install a “gold standard” European Train Control System (ETCS) - a system which KiwiRail executive general manager of operations Paul Ashton said would take years to implement.

However, the rail regulator lifted the ban two weeks later after alternative resolutions were decided on.

KiwiRail executive general manager of operations Paul Ashton said the alternative solution now installed on Te Huia will automatically stop the train if it passes a red signal, whereas the preferred solution is a predictive system which slows the train down as it approaches a red signal.

Te Huia faced sanctions after running red lights last year.

It later emerged that, despite being aware other passenger trains were running red lights, NZTA only sanctioned the Auckland to Hamilton service.

At the time Te Huia was sanctioned over safety concerns on July 11, NZTA knew of eight other passenger trains which ran red lights earlier in the year.

But Te Huia alone faced sanctions.

NZTA said it was concerned the train was a safety risk after two reports of it running through a red signal.

The train was forced to stop its service on the outskirts of Auckland in Papakura. However, two weeks later on July 28 the full service was told it could return from August 7.

Information provided by NZTA to RNZ under the Official Information Act showed between January 1 and the beginning of July, 27 other red signal events were reported across the network. Two of these were Te Huia, two were other Auckland metro trains and six were Wellington metro trains.

The other 17 incidents involved freight trains and maintenance vehicles in locations such as Tauranga, Mt Eden, Huntly and Dunedin.

- Additional reporting RNZ