Rail operator KiwiRail said there was no risk to the public as no trains were being tested on the yet-to-be-opened CRL tracks during that period.<\/p>\n
No passenger rail services in Auckland were running that weekend on other parts of the rail network. <\/p>\n
KiwiRail said temporary fixes were put in place before they resumed on February 9, followed by permanent fixes.<\/p>\n
Of the 10 welds completed by this contractor in the CRL tunnels from February 6 to 8, four were found to be faulty. In the Parnell tunnel over the same period, eight out of 28 welds were defective. These were much higher than ordinary failure rates, according to KiwiRail.<\/p>\n
The discoveries prompted KiwiRail to test all of this contractor\u2019s welding work in Auckland since Christmas last year \u2013 470 welds over 14 sites.<\/p>\n
It has tested 70 \u2013 about 15% of the total \u2013 as of mid-May, with no further faults detected.<\/p>\n
KiwiRail said it had made further progress since then. RNZ asked for updated figures.<\/p>\n
Details of the costs of remediation, or any other penalties, were deemed commercially sensitive and not released to RNZ.<\/p>\n
KiwiRail chief metro officer David Gordon said it had taken time to develop testing techniques, and he expected to complete all remaining weld assessments \u201cin the coming months\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a promising result, which points at the issue being largely limited to Waitangi Weekend work in the two tunnels.<\/p>\n
\u201cWelds in tunnels can be more difficult compared to welds on open track, given the underground environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The issues related to preparation, finishing and clean-up processes in flash butt welding, which joins tracks together by heating ends of two metal pieces and pressing them together.<\/p>\n
Gordon said the improper welding meant there was a risk defects could form.<\/p>\n
The contractor voluntarily stopped its other work in other parts of the country, while initial investigations were ongoing in Auckland. The company resumed work in mid-March after undergoing a training programme.<\/p>\n
KiwiRail had not publicly named the contractor.<\/p>\n
It said the company remained a \u201ctrusted party\u201d co-operating with its processes, and that identifying them would \u201cunreasonably prejudice\u201d its commercial dealings.<\/p>\n
\u201cFollowing their retraining and re\u2011certification, KiwiRail is confident that welding work can safely resume and will meet the required engineering standards,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe contractor in question is experienced and has previously been very reliable.\u201d<\/p>\n
A wider engineering review is ongoing into welding standards, all contractors\u2019 practice and the speed of fault detection.<\/p>\n
The welding work was done as part of the city\u2019s track upgrade programme, in preparation for CRL\u2019s opening later this year.<\/p>\n
Auckland Transport said the faulty CRL work had not impacted its opening date.<\/p>\n
Asked about KiwiRail\u2019s decision to continue the use of this contractor, Rail Minister Winston Peters said he was satisfied with KiwiRail\u2019s response \u201cas it confirmed to us that they took the faulty welds as seriously as we did\u201d.<\/p>\n
The rail operator told the contractor to stand down from its CRL work after KiwiRail engineers observed \u201cquestionable welding technique\u201d between Te Waihorotiu and Karanga a Hape stations on February 7.<\/p>\n
According to correspondence sent by a KiwiRail staff member, it was this discovery that prompted engineers to carry out further testing at Parnell tunnel.<\/p>\n
Initially, 10 welds were tested in Parnell tunnel on February 8. This revealed six faults, which were secured with metal plates and clamps as an interim fix.<\/p>\n
The Parnell tunnel was reopened to passenger rail services on the morning of February 9, with a temporary speed reduction as a precaution. No freight trains had travelled through the tunnel that day.<\/p>\n
Asked how KiwiRail was confident in its decision to reopen the Parnell tunnel, given a number of welds in the area were yet to be tested at that point, Gordon said \u201cthere was no indication of issues with any other welds\u201d, though the agency had decided to do a further review of the contractor\u2019s work \u201cfor completeness\u201d given the \u201cunusually high failure rate\u201d.<\/p>\n
KiwiRail usually tested 50% of all new welds within four weeks, though the agency said this rate had been higher in Auckland in recent times given the amount of welding being done.<\/p>\n
This set off worry among engineers as the day progressed: having identified the contractor\u2019s 18 other welds in the Parnell tunnel over Waitangi weekend, there was a risk that a similarly high rate of failure would exceed the number of plates and clamps readily available in Auckland for temporary fixes.<\/p>\n
That prompted KiwiRail\u2019s decision late on February 9 to close the Parnell tunnel to passengers the following morning, which had the potential to cause disruption to thousands of train commuters in the south and west of the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cClamps are being brought in from other parts of the country, but we cannot confirm they will arrive and can be fitted overnight before the morning peak,\u201d a KiwiRail staff member wrote to a number of stakeholders \u2013 including Auckland Transport, passenger service operator Auckland One Rail and the Rail Minister \u2013 that evening.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they can, we will carry out the work as quickly as possible and there is a remote chance we may not have to close the tunnel.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement to the public shortly afterwards, Gordon said KiwiRail \u201cappreciate how frustrating this is for Aucklanders\u201d.<\/p>\n
Testing of the remaining welds that evening revealed only two further faults. That meant there was enough equipment in Auckland to carry out repairs to reopen the tunnel on February 10, before the morning rush hour.<\/p>\n
KiwiRail extended the contractor\u2019s stand-down to cover the rest of the Auckland network.<\/p>\n
\u201cClearly this is a serious issue that needs to be worked through, and all details thoroughly analysed to understand what has happened at both locations that has led to failed tests,\u201d the contractor said in a response to KiwiRail.<\/p>\n
On February 10, Gordon told Morning Report the contractor was \u201cmortified\u201d about the work, though accountability ultimately rested with KiwiRail.<\/p>\n
A staff member in the Rail Minister\u2019s office emailed Gordon and other KiwiRail staff later that day, showing Peters had sought assurances about welding assessments, remediation costs and said that \u201ccommuters should not have been inconvenienced by third-world faults\u201d.<\/p>\n
Asked if he stood by this characterisation, Peters told RNZ: \u201cCommuters should not have been inconvenienced by third-world faults.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the welding was done correctly, they wouldn\u2019t have been inconvenienced.\u201d<\/p>\n
– RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rail operator KiwiRail said there was no risk to the public as no trains were being tested on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476521,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[74,138,37766,6097,181383,2082,240087,17747,111,139,69,4989,1523,166639,17218,22974,240086,19135],"class_list":["post-476520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-after","tag-business","tag-contractor","tag-down","tag-faulty","tag-for","tag-irra","tag-kiwirail","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-organisation","tag-over","tag-retraining","tag-stood","tag-track","tag-welding","tag-working"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}