Barrier arms on the rail crossing at Te Maunga are being operated by hand dafter a fault resulted in them blocking access from SH2 to SH27 earlier this evening.
At one stage commuter traffic was backed up from Te Maunga to the Maungatapu overbridge.
Drivers were initially driving around the barriers before KiwiRail staff arrived to raise them shortly before 6pm.
Traffic is now moving but the backlog is expected to take some time to clear.
KiwiRail staff are expected to remain on site to lower the barrier arms for the next train expected tonight.
2 comments
its
Posted on 27-04-2017 18:41 | By Capt_Kaveman
bad enough they are allowed to taxi in or out at peak times
Time for a re-think
Posted on 30-04-2017 08:16 | By Papamoaner
Level crossing accidents seem to be on the increase lately. This wasn't an accident, but it's an opportunity to discuss crossings. In some countries they have massive steel sliding gates, but I can't remember where I saw them. Quite impressive and would be good to have here. "driving around" barrier arms for whatever reason is very dangerous. Those big iron bells are great because their unique sound is well recognised as "train coming" They need to be made louder and more of them upstream and downstream of the crossing. For some odd reason, loco drivers seem reluctant to blow their air horns. Perhaps they ought to be a bit more assertive in that department. Our railways are very important to us and should never have been sold. Some government funding to upgrade level crossings would be appropriate.
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