Inquiries & Recommendations

Ngā ketuketutanga me ngā tūtohunga

At approximately 1630 hours on Friday 17 December 1999, a rake of wagons being propelled from Fletcher Paper private siding in Mt Maunganui derailed as a result of being pushed over a derailing block. The wagons slewed from the track and crossed a public road level crossing before colliding with a building and coming to rest on the opposite side of the road. The safety deficiencies identified included: • the use of motorcycles by staff during shunting of sidings • the lack of formalisation of local speed limits • the positioning of staff during the propelling movement.

[A preliminary investigation showed that the circumstances were not likely to have significant implications for transport safety. Consistent with section 13 of the TAIC Act the Commission discontinued the investigation and no report was published.]

At approximately 1010 hours on Wednesday 24 November 1999, the Wellington to Auckland Overlander passenger express, Train 200, proceeded past a conditional stop board between Ohau and Levin without authority. Some 5 kilometres later Train 200 unexpectedly met a track maintenance gang, which had just cleared the track to allow the passage of the train. There were no injuries. The safety issues identified were: • the incomplete radio procedures for communication between locomotive engineers and track gangs working under conditional stop board protection

On Thursday 21 October 1999 at about 1810, jet boat "Shotover 14" entered the first canyon on the Upper Shotover River with the driver and 9 passengers on board, travelling at about 65 km/h. While travelling close to the left side of the canyon a component in the steering system caught on a bracket, preventing the driver from steering to the right.

[A preliminary investigation showed that the circumstances were not likely to have significant implications for transport safety. Consistent with section 13 of the TAIC Act the Commission discontinued the investigation and no report was published.]

[A preliminary investigation showed that the circumstances were not likely to have significant implications for transport safety. Consistent with section 13 of the TAIC Act the Commission discontinued the investigation and no report was published.]

On Thursday 21 October 1999 at about 1810, jet boat "Shotover 14" entered the first canyon on the Upper Shotover River with the driver and 9 passengers on board, travelling at about 65 km/h. While travelling close to the left side of the canyon a component in the steering system caught on a bracket, preventing the driver from steering to the right.

At about 0702 hours on Wednesday, 20 October 1999 Train 938, a northbound express freight, collided with Train 919, a southbound intercity express freight, which was stationary on the main line within station limits at Waipahi on the Main South Line. The locomotive engineer of Train 919 was fatally injured, and the locomotive engineer of Train 938 was seriously injured. The two locomotives on Train 919 and the single locomotive on Train 938 were extensively damaged, as were a number of wagons and containers.

Addendum to 99-122: Following the publication of Railway Occurrence Report 99-122 the Commission received additional information based on a new recorded departure time of Train 919 from Clinton. This strengthened some previously expressed concerns at the interpretation which could be placed on sections of the report covering actions open to the locomotive engineer of Train 919 (LE2) on the day.

At approximately 0700 hours on Friday, 1 October 1999, a rail operator fell from a slow moving wagon during shunting operations at Stillwater, when a handgrip detached as he was boarding the wagon. The rail operator fell backwards away from the wagon and landed alongside the track, sustaining minor injuries as a result. The safety issues identified included: • the inability of the inspection regime to identify the defective handgrip • the unreported damage to, and unauthorised reinstatement of, handgrips arising from load handling and inappropriate shunting methods

On Thursday, 23 September 1999, at about 0703, the coastal tanker "Kakariki" was outbound from Dunedin with 19 crew, 2 supernumeraries, one harbour pilot and one trainee harbour pilot on board. The vessel was proceeding down Victoria Channel in the upper harbour of Port Otago at between 6 and 7 knots when it took a sudden sheer to port. The bridge team was able to counteract the sheer just short of the vessel running aground, realign it in the channel, and complete the outbound passage without further incident. There were no injuries and the vessel suffered no damage.

At approximately 2215 hours on Tuesday 24 August 1999, northbound Train 474 struck a derailed wagon while passing southbound Train 227 between Te Rapa and Horotiu on the North Island Main Trunk line. The incident occurred when a UK wagon conveying a 40-foot container on Train 227 became derailed shortly after passing through Horotiu as a result of a tyre working loose on a wheel. The wagon continued in a derailed state, obstructing the parallel up main line as Train 474 approached.