Wellington commuters are being urged to delay their travel if possible due to a train derailment this morning, with queues on State Highway 1 and State Highway 2 stretching for kilometres.
Trains have been cancelled due to a freight train derailment last night which damaged the tracks about 7.40pm.
This morning, there are no train services running in and out of Wellington on any of the Hutt, Kapiti, Melling and Wairarapa lines, Metlink said.
Work crews are on site working to re-rail the train and repair the damage, but the disruption is likely to continue to impact services into the afternoon.
A Metlink spokesperson told 1 NEWS the organisation contacted bus companies in the hopes of replacing the train services with buses, but none were able to provide sufficient enough resources, therefore no replacement bus services are running.
NZTA said this morning that traffic on State Highways 1 and 2 is now significantly backed up, and that motorists should delay their travel if possible.
"SH1 queues stretch from the Porirua to the Urban Motorway," they said.
"SH2 queues stretch from the Haywards Interchange to the Petone Interchange."
Metlink buses will accept all rail tickets, but buses are also being affected.
At least 11 trips have been cancelled, with routes 83 and 81 "severely delayed" due to the train issues.
Up to 20,000 people are likely to be effected by the widespread cancellations.
Metlink has advised that those bus routes will possibly also be full to capacity.
There are roughly 20,000 passengers who usually travel by train during a weekday peak, officials said.
Commuters are asked to check Metlink’s website and Twitter account for further updates.
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