One week after Wellington train derailment, KiwiRail no closer to knowing cause

Thousands of people in the capital faced big delays.

A week on from a freight train derailment that saw Wellington’s commuter network grind to a halt , KiwiRail is no closer to knowing what caused it.

The state company is conducting its own internal investigation, alongside the official one by the independent Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC).

Chief operating officer Todd Moyle said KiwiRail is co-operating fully to assist TAIC "at all levels" but said there is no immediate clear cause for last Wednesday’s derailment.

"KiwiRail is continuing to examine and analyse in detail all the data and records associated with the incident, including issues such as the condition of the wagons involved and track geometry," he said.

"Key to this analysis will be modelling the interaction between the wagons and the track as there is no obvious immediate cause."

The company did not say whether there was an aspect of human error, nor whether that might contributes to the complexities of the investigation.

It also could not put a timeframe on any outcome or when any of the results from their testing might be available "because of the nature of the work".

"It is important that the investigation work is completed thoroughly and accurately to ensure that the root cause is correctly identified," Mr Moyle said.

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