- Hutt Valley Train crashes beyond end of the line The driver of a Tranz Metro train told passengers to brace themselves before it crashed over the end of the line in the Hutt Valley. Police communications spokesman Mike Coleman said the train failed to stop when it came to the end of the line at Melling Station besides the Hutt motorway at 8:10am. Passenger Ross Moreland was at the front of the train when the accident happened. He said the driver came out of his cab before the impact and told passengers to brace themselves because the brakes were not operating. Moreland said one woman appeared to have suffered head injuries and required stitches. Others in the front of the train were badly shaken, he said. As the train rode up over a barrier at the end of the line it also hit a pole supporting the overhead powerlines. Senior Station Officer at Lower Hutt Fire Station Rob Sullivan said his men kept the 20 passengers on the train while the power was cut off. It took about 10 minutes to cut the power off, he said. The danger came from the fact that the top of the train had risen up and was touching 1100 volt power cables. So we kept the 20 or so passengers on the train until the power was cut off. Peter Reidy, the general manager of KiwiRail, said Matangi trains would not be taken off the rails in the wake of todays events. This was a very serious incident and were very sorry it happened, he said. There were 10 passengers on the train. One who received minor cuts and another who was in shock. Both were taken to Wellington Hospital. KiwiRail was doing its utmost to contact six other passenger on the train who left immediately after the accident, Reidy said. He also said the driver was in shock. As part of the overall inquiry our people will be talking to the driver to get his version of events. The main priority for KiwiRail today was the welfare of passengers and staff. Reidy said the train involved in todays incident underwent a full thorough service 14 days ago. The train at the Melling station was the fifth service of the day to run from that station. Reidy expressed confidence in the safety of the service. We carry 11 million passengers a year... we have very rigorous inspection and maintenance procedures. There is an investigation under way at the station and once the external agencies release the site, we will open the line again. The line was expected to re-open this afternoon.
Posted on: Tue, 27 May 2014 01:09:28 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015