Passengers given 'toilet supplies' while trapped for three hours on Wellington train

Passengers have been stranded on a train in Wellington this morning for over three hours after a downed overhead electric cable caused major disruption on the Kāpiti Line.

KiwiRail Wellington Metro GM Andy Lyon said a cable came down at 7.50am on the line near Wellington, requiring passenger services to be cancelled and bus replaced.

"Power was lost to three trains causing them to stop on the line away from platforms," he said.

"Two were moved earlier this morning, so that people could disembark. A diesel locomotive is currently moving the third service, which had been sitting on the rail bridge over Hutt Road with 152 passengers onboard, into Wellington Station," Lyon said.

Lyon said KiwiRail was aware it was tough for the stranded passengers.

"But we were dealing with high voltage electrical cables and we had to ensure safety."

Lyon said Wellington's overhead infrastructure was not that old and they did not yet know what caused the wire to come down.

"This incident will be fully investigated."

Metlink senior manager Paul Tawharu said passengers on the stranded service had been on board for just over three hours.

"Passengers were given emergency toilet supplies to use while onboard the train. The use of these products is a last resort and onboard staff ensured passengers had support and privacy available to them," he said.

"Staff have ensured passengers were comfortable. Water was available, and we worked to get these passengers off the train as soon as possible."

One person on social media claimed that people were "starting to pee in plastic bags".

Another said that the crew had been amazing.

"The power is off the train and we're being tugged into wellie!!"

Geoffrey Weal, a passenger aboard this morning's stranded service, said it stopped about 8am and didn't get going again until 11am.

"We were coming out of the second tunnel, coming into Wellington, and that's when the train started to slow down and stop," he said.

"We were told later on that what had happened was that the power cable running across the train, one of them had snapped and was lying on the train."

He understood that one of the other trains that had also lost power had been in one of the tunnels.

Weal said passengers were told they could not get off the train for safety reasons, as the electricity was still live to allow the other trains to be moved.

Tawharu said for other train users, buses were currently replacing trains between Wellington and Plimmerton, and passengers should expect delays until further notice.

The Hutt Valley Line was also closed for approximately 30 minutes this morning to allow crews to reach the train and tow it back to Wellington Station.

This morning a passenger on one of the Kāpiti Line trains had reported that he was sitting on the train that had stopped for between 10 and 15 minutes.

He said another train had stopped and pulled up behind him.

A Metlink spokesperson had earlier said a train was stuck in a tunnel, but the train was moving again and repair crews were en route.

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