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KiwiRail / Stuff
A near collision between two passenger trains at Wellington Station in November 2019 was found to have been caused when a driver was distracted by a radio call, causing a red light to run.
A near miss between two passenger trains at Wellington railway station occurred when a driver was distracted by a radio call, according to a report.
The incident in November last year occurred when the distracted driver was leaving the station and running a red light, when an entrance service was approaching on the same road.
Both drivers stopped their trains 31.8 meters away, avoiding a collision and possible injury to those on board, according to the report from the Transportation Accident Investigation Commission.
The incident caused a “considerable disruption” in train operations that day.
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The commission had previously highlighted the safety issue in 2017, which identified that there was nothing to stop a train passing the red stop sign, in case its driver did not react correctly.
At the time, he recommended that KiwiRail do everything possible to “reduce the risk of train operations in the area until a more suitable long-term solution can be found.”
Kiwirail completed several studies on improvements in the Wellington approach area, however the recommendation was still open, according to the report.
