Inquiries & Recommendations

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TAIC identifies safety issues for KiwiRail’s auxiliary generator wagons -- programmed maintenance checks and wagon fire detection alarms. Small fire in auxiliary generator wagon for Capital Connection passenger train, extinguished. Cause was spontaneous ignition of materials around hot exhaust. Circumstances: Corroded exhaust that nobody noticed because inspection wasn’t required and maintenance wasn’t done.

On Friday 15 May 1998, at approximately 2220 hours, Train 411, a southbound express freight, was mistakenly routed on to the wrong main at Ngaruawahia. This operating irregularity was not responded to appropriately and the train was permitted to continue running in the down direction on the up main to Te Rapa, some 12 km south.

On Thursday, 5 February 1998 at about 1630 hours, Train 721, a southbound Picton to Christchurch express freight was near Scargill when the locomotive engineer noticed a buckle in the track ahead. He was unable to slow the train significantly in the limited distance available and although the locomotive and the three leading wagons traversed the buckled track, the following eleven wagons became derailed before the train came to a stop. A safety issue identified was the failure of the safety system to achieve adequate protection of a predictable weak spot.

On Monday 9 March 1998 at about 2359 hours, nine wagons of Train 928, a northbound Dunedin to Christchurch express freight, derailed near Purakanui at low speed. The train continued for approximately four kilometres before a brake application alerted the locomotive engineer to the problem. The point of the derailment coincided with that of an almost identical derailment involving Train 928 on 3 March 1998.

On Thursday 15 October 1998, at about 1407 hours, Train 9282, comprising 4 English Electric multiple unit cars running from Wellington to Johnsonville, derailed while negotiating the turnout from the up main to the down main at the south end of Wadestown.

On Tuesday, 2 June 1998, Train 482 was running from Putaruru to Kinleith with a rake of six empty wagons. At approximately 0510 hours the train was stopped by a member of the public waving a torch just ahead of a main line blockage caused by wagons in the Tokoroa timber siding which had run away and derailed fouling the main line.

On Wednesday 30 September 1998, Train 823 was running from Lyttelton to Ngakawau with a rake of 18 empty coal wagons. At approximately 2340 hours the train stopped on the down main adjacent to the Middleton marshalling yard (5 km west of Christchurch) and the locomotives were then detached for servicing. A few minutes after the locomotives had cut off, the wagons started moving in an easterly direction down the grade towards Christchurch. In the course of their movement the wagons crossed two protected level crossings where insufficient warning time for road traffic was provided.

On Sunday, 9 July 1995 at about 1825 hours the Long-line Fishing Vessel "Salania 876405" suffered a fire in the engine room while en-route from Milford Sound to Nelson. All four crew members escaped unharmed into a liferaft. The vessel burned to the water line and sank. Safety issues identified included fire fighting and survival training for fishing vessel crews. The cause of the fire could not be conclusively identified.

At 0200 on Wednesday, 3 December 1997, while the Ro-Ro general cargo vessel "Union Rotoma" was on passage from Melbourne to Auckland, fire broke out in the engine room disabling one of its two engines, and causing substantial damage to electrical wiring and control systems. The crew used a fixed carbon dioxide extinguishing plant to put out the fire, and after the crew spent several hours making temporary repairs, the vessel was able to proceed on one engine to Sydney, the closest port of refuge.

On Friday 16 February 1996, at approximately 0900 hours, as Piper PA28 aircraft ZK-CEQ was waiting on the tarmac at Ardmore Aerodrome for its turn at the refuelling pump, the spotter left his seat, stepped over the right wing leading edge into the rotating propeller and lost his life.

During a stream take-off the pilot of de Havilland Venom ZK-VNM was concentrating on the Mustang taking off ahead of him. He attempted to raise the nosewheel of the aircraft at the normal point, but without success. He did not check engine rpm at this time because of preoccupation with the lead aircraft. He wound on some nose-up trim and raised the nose but realised that he could now neither continue the take-off successfully nor stop before the end of the runway. In the event he decided to land straight ahead.

At 1249 on Wednesday 29 July 1998, the Ro-Ro cargo vessel "Union Rotoma" had encountered heavy weather in the Great Australian Bight while on passage from Sydney to Adelaide. Four containers stacked two-high on the weather deck toppled, and while this event was being investigated, three larger waves caused the ship to roll heavily, resulting in a more substantial shift of cargo above and below deck. Three containers were lost overboard in the shift.