People moving through Papanui were caught up in a KiwiRail signal fault on Tuesday afternoon this week, with barrier arms, lights, and bells activated for an extended period of time at multiple crossings in the area.
KiwiRail has advised Think Papanui that the cause was an overloaded circuit – “Failures in train detection can trigger safety devices at multiple level crossings in the same section, even though no train is approaching“, said Chief Infrastructure Officer Siva Sivapakkiam. “A Signals Technician manually turned off the activations, with Police assisting by directing traffic. The issue was investigated and the fault resolved by 8pm.
“KiwiRail reminds the public that trains can appear at any time whether they are expected or not. Trains always have right of way and travel faster than they appear to. Safety is paramount and we strongly encourage road users to follow the signage at level crossings.”
No issues were evident when Think Papanui visited this morning (pic).