Newspaper Article 1995 – Probe into train’s speed

Probe into train’s speed

By Terry Tacon
Staff reporter, Hastings

Rail authorities confirmed today they were looking at the possibility of excessive speed as the cause of Sunday’s fatal crash involving the Bay Express at Pukehou.

Tranz Rail spokeswoman Christine Seymour said that speed was one of the obvious elements investigators of the crash were considering, though there were others.

She said the driver had been spoken to but was “extremely distressed” with the death yesterday of the person who had been travelling in the cab of the train with him, former locomotive engineer Ira Francis Ngataierua-Tinirau, 28, from New Plymouth.

Ms Seymour confirmed the driver and the dead man were friends and also that Mr Ngataierua-Tinirau did not have the required permission he needed to be in the train cab.

However, whether the driver would be disciplined over what seemed to be an obvious breach of regulations would wait until the inquiries into the accident were completed.

Ms Seymour said she did not know when that would be, with Tranz Rail investigators studying the “black box” from the train yesterday and sharing the information today with Transport Accident Investigation Commission staff.

The black box logs all actions taken by the train driver, including when he brakes, when he uses the train’s horn and other information.

Sunday’s Bay Express left Wellington 20 minutes late but by the time it derailed it was back on schedule.

The engine from the train remains where it came to rest, awaiting cranes from Wellington and Greymouth which will lift it back on to the rails, probably on Thursday.

Yesterday the manager of Scenic, the branch of Tranz Rail which looks after passenger services, was in Hawke’s Bay speaking to people who had been on the train on Sunday.

Fiona Luhrs spoke to many of the passengers and where she was unable to find them, she left messages inviting them to contact her if they had any problems.

“The reaction she got was extremely good, with no bitterness and people being very positive about the way they had been looked after by the train’s staff, particularly the train attendant.”

This staff member, who Ms Seymour described as a very experienced individual, alerted emergency services on his cellphone and then looked after passengers who had received cuts and bruises in the accident.

Nineteen people were taken to the Hastings Hospital and were discharged dafter treatment for relatively minor injuries.

Ms Seymour said Ms Luhrs had been told by many of the people she saw yesterday that they were regular passengers on the Bay Express and that they would use the service again.

Tranz Rail today rejected criticism of the way the company handled passengers and their relatives after Sunday’s derailment.

Ms Seymour said that staff at the Hastings and Napier railway stations had provided people with information as quickly as they could.

Photo caption – The Bay Express at the scene of Sunday’s fatal derailment.