Executive summary
On Friday 29 July 2005 at about 0506, a rake of 9 wagons that had been detached from the locomotives of Train 644 ran away to the south from Waingawa. The runaway wagons collided with a motor vehicle at Hodders Road level crossing, about 11.75 kilometres (km) from Waingawa, seriously injuring the driver. The wagons then continued for a further 2.75 km before stopping at about 70.50 km between Dalefield and Matarawa.
The driver of the vehicle was taken by ambulance to Wairarapa Hospital, and subsequently air lifted to Wellington Hospital.
Safety issues identified included:
• train braking and shunting procedures
• post-runaway response procedures.
Safety recommendations have been made to the Chief Executives of ONTRACK and Toll NZ Consolidated Limited to address these issues.
Related Recommendations
Enhance existing air brake and handbrake procedures to include: • a minima number of handbrakes to be applied proportional to the number of unattended wagons • a brake effectiveness test to be carried out before locomotives are separated from an unattended rake of wagons • operating personnel required to communicate with each other at defined stages before wagons are left unattended on a main line • consolidate instructions pertaining to the operation of hand brakes and air brakes applicable at train separation
Enhance existing procedures to incorporate appropriate actions to enable an effective response to an uncontrolled movement on a main line.