Train passengers in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland have been complaining about chronic delays and cancellations in the past two weeks, but Auckland Transport says it's largely out of their control.
Several passengers ranted on social media about disruptions last week on the Western Line, and this week commuters have been angry about the other three metro lines (Ōnehunga, Southern, Eastern).
One even complained they were trapped on a motionless train for half an hour.
"The Western Line users are right. It has been problematic since it opened," said Stacey van der Putten, public transport director at Auckland Transport (AT).
"We've had a number of disruptions which has obviously upset us too."
Since the city's metro rail lines reopened after KiwiRail's summer maintenance period, there has been some "bedding in issues" with new infrastructure, van der Putten told Newshub.
"There's also been a number of what we call track faults of various different relations in terms of points, issues or drop tracks or other issues across the network."
When issues arise such as track faults, they can cause a chain reaction of delays across the network, she said.
"And so we've been having a lot of conversations with KiwiRail about that."
KiwiRail owns the rail tracks and overhead power lines, while Auckland One Rail operates passenger trains on AT's behalf.
AT plans and funds the city's rail services, and also owns stations, carriages, depots, and the locomotives.
This week's issues
On Wednesday morning, all Ōnehunga Line services were affected by crew issues. Staff had been displaced from a prior track fault, said van der Putten.
"A fault across the network has a knock-on impact with crew not being available at scheduled start locations due to prior delays," she explained.
In the same hour on Wednesday, AT posted on X that trains on the Southern Line would run less often due to a track fault near the Westfield Junction.
And on Tuesday (Waitangi Day), a "KiwiRail track infrastructure issue" at Waitematā caused disruptions on three rail lines during the morning peak, AT said on X.
And on Monday, AT said on X "operational constraints" caused disruptions on the Southern and Eastern Lines about 4.30pm at the start of the afternoon peak.
"This was due to a prior incident which caused a delay in service commencement times on the lines," van der Putten told Newshub.
A self-professed "long time AT basher" posted on Reddit their early morning Wednesday train from Ōtāhuhu was meant to be express to Waitematā Station, but it stopped at all stations anyway.
One Reddit user even encouraged others to flood AT's complaints inbox.
"You don’t need to log in, just send them your thoughts on what you really feel about the service," they said, not realising they won't get a response without logging in. "Lets try and send 1000 of these."
"How dare we choose [to] live in a low density and super sprawled city which makes PT really difficult. Let’s blame some randoms doing the best they can with limited funding and resources," a third person said.
"The lack of infrastructure spending and maintenance coupled with generational car dependency caused this mess," said another.
Last week's issues
There were more disruptions last week too.
Last Friday morning, trains were delayed 20 minutes due to a gas leak at Wiri.
"That was addressed really quickly and people were dispatched quickly to do that," van der Putten said. Services were impacted for the rest of the morning peak.
Last Tuesday morning, one commuter on a Western Line train claimed on Reddit they were trapped on an idle train at Swanson for 30 minutes, with no staff in sight. They pulled the emergency lever to escape.
According to KiwiRail, Tuesday's disruptions were caused by a "signals detection issue" at Newmarket. That was fixed within an hour, but it caused delays and cancellations on several lines.
Another commuter complained on Reddit that ongoing cancellations meant they had to spend $50 on Ubers to get to work.
A third person claimed the cancellations have been rife since the train lines reopened mid-January.
"Not one week has gone by when I have not been delayed because of the trains," they wrote.
And other disgruntled commuters agreed.
"Why, after weeks of shutdown for "maintenance" that there have been so many disruptions due to KiwiRail track issues, any answers @AklTransport?" one person asked AT on its X account.
Another said on X they planned to use the train last Friday, but ended up taking their car instead because "the western line is still not fit for purpose".
Summer maintenance
All metro rail lines on Auckland's network shut down on December 26, for KiwiRail's summer maintenance period, which has been the case for many years. They reopened from mid-January in stages.
Eastern Line upgrades were completed after it had been closed for eight months.
Jon Knight, KiwiRail's general manager metros, told Newshub they're making good progress on Auckland's $1.5b worth of rail upgrades.
"Over the Christmas break we had one of our biggest work blocks ever – with around 1500 staff and contractors undertaking project and maintenance work at 89 worksites across the network."
But KiwiRail also had to do work on its $330m Rail Network Rebuild (RNR), in preparation for the City Rail Link (CRL), expected to open 2026.
RNR work includes replacing track foundations, sleepers, drainage, and other crucial upgrades.
In 2021, then-Minister of Transport Michael Wood announced a $1.3b investment into Aotearoa's rail network, over three years.
KiwiRail chief executive Greg Miller said at the time the 'Rail Plan' gave long-term certainty, "instead of having to go to the Government every 12 months for funding to maintain the network".
Other summer maintenance included signal upgrades at Wiri, plus track and civil work at Waitematā Station, Quay Park, and Newmarket.
Knight told Newshub the summer works were designed to improve the network and prepare it for more frequent trains once the CRL opens.
"We’re also developing a new, more proactive, technology-led approach to network maintenance which will be needed to keep the network up to standard once more trains are running," he added.
Ongoing work
Work is currently underway on the Southern Line (between Papakura and Puhinui), mainly at night. Trains here are stopping earlier, with some weekend closures until March.
After that, staff will work on the Western Line (between Avondale and Morningside) until May, meaning less frequent trains.
And in June, work will begin between Pukekohe and Papakura, which has been closed for electrification anyway.
Knight said KiwiRail is also building a third main line in south Auckland to unclog some freight trains from the passenger network. The organisation wants to build a fourth in future.
Three new stations are also in the works for Drury, Drury West, and Paerata, plus a dedicated Train Control Centre.
What else has been causing disruptions?
"As with any operating rail network, services can be delayed or cancelled at times for a variety of reasons – from weather events, trespassers on the tracks, or issues with the tracks or overhead electric cables," Knight said.
"We appreciate how frustrating train delays and cancellations can be for commuters, and we do all we can to avoid them."
Most cancellations were due to weather events, he explained.
Van der Putten told Newshub 15 percent of the nearly 5400 train services scheduled in January were cancelled.
Out of all the cancellations, a whopping 35 percent were due to heat restrictions alone.
"You are going to have to do periodic cancellations because it just gets backed up," she said.
The other cancellations were due to other track issues.
For example, on January 25 a van crashed through a barrier above Remuera Station. It caused delays and cancellations for the rest of the day on several train lines.
"So you do get these random things. But what we've seen at the start of this year is obviously not pleasing for us or our customers," van der Putten told Newshub.
What about a fix?
Niall Robertson, chair of the Public Transport Users Association (PTUA), told Newshub there's a simple fix.
"The Government needs to get behind KiwiRail and fund Auckland's infrastructure properly, so that commuters are not delayed unnecessarily as they are continuously."
He pointed to the Wiri gas leak as an example of a minor issue that caused widespread delays.
Robertson added that because there aren't many substations, "everything has to stop and wait".
And a cloud was on the horizon, he explained, because the Government wants to cut costs to pay for tax breaks, but he remains hopeful they'll "put long-term value above short-term political need".
Van der Putten agreed that KiwiRail needed more money.
"It's not lost on KiwiRail in terms of if they want to improve their level of service, and I will say that they do really want to. I think they've been subjected to repetitive years where the system has been substantially underfunded."
AT is putting a lot of effort into finding out why disruptions such as track faults are happening, van der Putten said.
"You know, whether it's an infrastructure issue with KiwiRail or whether it be an operator issue with Auckland One Rail."
A backup option is always preferred in the case of faults or unexpected events, she said.
To get notifications about delays or cancellations immediately, people can download the AT app, and add their normal route to the Journey Planner.
AT also puts out alerts on its social media channels under Auckland Transport Travel Alerts (@AT_TravelAlerts on Twitter/X).
