An electrical fire in a signal cabinet has damaged signalling to the south of Newmarket on the Auckland metro network at just after 5am on Monday morning.
The fire was sparked in a passenger train signalling cabinet.
Todd Moyle, KiwiRail Group chief operating officer, said the fire has been extinguished as of 8am Monday morning.
“KiwiRail staff are on site and will restore the system as quickly as possible,” Moyle said.
“We are working with TransDev to reroute Southern Line trains along the Eastern Line from Otahuhu. At this point, the heaviest impact is limited to trains running between Penrose and Newmarket. Western Line trains continue to operate.
“We apologise for the inconvenience to Auckland commuters but safety must be paramount. The cause will be investigated.”
The heaviest impact during the peak hour commute was stations between Newmarket and Penrose (Penrose, Ellerslie, Greenlane, Remuera) as trains couldn’t run on that section on the track.
TransDev re-routed Southern Line trains via Otahuhu along the Eastern Line to access Britomart and all Western Line trains continue to run following the incident.
Auckland Transport stated in an updated social media post that southern line services will continue via the eastern line and western line services are stopping at Newmarket as of 11.10am Monday morning.