Auckland's RWC train service 'disgraceful'

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Fri, 09 Sep 2011 11:01p.m.

Many commuters resorted to jumping off the trains and climbing up banks

Many commuters resorted to jumping off the trains and climbing up banks

It was a case of ready, set, stop for 4,000 rugby fans tonight.

Train loads of people who had paid hundreds of dollars to watch the opening night of the Rugby World Cup, were left stranded by Auckland’s train system.

Many resorted to jumping off the trains and climbing up banks in a desperate attempt to get to Eden Park, while others had no idea whereabouts in Auckland they were.

Meanwhile, just the sheer number of people – up to 100,000 – is causing problems at the Auckland waterfront tonight.

It seems the size of the crowd was too much for some rugby fans, who felt the only way to escape being crushed was to jump in the water.

Police rescued a group of four people, including a young boy, from the water.

Three were then transported to hospital with minor injuries.

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Comments

11 Sep 2011 04:08p.m.

Hayley wrote:

i was one of the younger people on the trains my train was the one holding the others up it was bathetic we were stood still for about 45 minutes until they told us why we couldnt get going useless

11 Sep 2011 10:00a.m.

taz wrote:

I entered a train at Glen Eden with 3 friends. Even then it was already over-crowding. From Avondale onwwards, it just got so jammed packed more still. After that, the train had no choice but to past people. Grabed a seat in Kingsland, and totally zonked out myself, in an absolute and total deep sleep, from all the body heat, as the carriage was like a sauna, like a match box full of light sticks. Was so damn hot, and massively over-crowded, full of delay stops, took near two hours to get to Britomart, if not more. Exited the Train, at B.M, and collasped from a massive heat stroke, and just blacked out. Was immediately attended to by all sorts of women who were Medics, and was found to have an extremly, dangerously weak and slow pulse rate. Was literally given the Kiss of Life from one of them as they performed mouth to mout ressus on me, cos I was passing in and out of conciousness. 8 Male Abulance staff showed up, my friend stayed with me, as I was transfered to A&E in Akld Hosp. Forever grateful to all those women who acted out as they did at B.M., and my extreme apologies to the poor lady beside me, on the train, whom I was leaning all over, just totally out to it, deeply sleeping, already. Great Service provided Maxx. Way to go!

10 Sep 2011 01:32p.m.

Erm... wrote:

There's not much the train company can do with numbnuts travellers repeatedly pressing the emergency stop buttons.

10 Sep 2011 10:31a.m.

kelvyn wrote:

At one point during the lead up to the opening ceremony a presenter breathlessly told us there had been a car/bus crash on the motorway. Now I bet that news had the viewer absolutely on the edge of their seats with excitement.

10 Sep 2011 09:06a.m.

lee ashton wrote:

Your article does NOT mention the reason why trains were stopping, because some fools were pushing the emergency button, on one train it was pushed 4 times!!!!

10 Sep 2011 06:46a.m.

Andrew wrote:

Hey Auckland.....FAIL

10 Sep 2011 02:38a.m.

Anon wrote:

I'd like to see my tax payer dollars go on a better train system. I waited for 2 hours at Sylvia Park train station from 2.30- 4.30 before I could even get on a train! Trains were full before making it anywhere close to the CBD leaving people who planned to go early stranded. Then once on the train we crawled into town, taking an hour and at one stage stopping for 20 minutes in the middle of no where. Hot,no air con or air! screaming kids and crowded. We passed many disappointed people at stations after Sylvia Park who could not get on when we stopped as we were now full. This really is a shame as driving would have been so much faster as everybody seemed to listen to the "use our public transport" message and took the train instead. The viaduct was also far too over crowded and had there been a fire would have been a problem. No clear exit paths to get out and abusive people did not make this a great experience. I really hope that Auckland has a good think about logistics next time, you had time to plan but it looks like the public transport system failed badly.

10 Sep 2011 02:25a.m.

SunKee wrote:

Not only the trains, but the buses weren't frequent enough. There were literally hundreds of people waiting all afternoon at bus stations (for the Northern Express) and once full, no one else on the way could get on. Same for the rides back home from the city. Also, because they became free, people started pushing, shoving, and squeezing into the bus doors like the front row of a mosh pit. People with little kids and prams couldn't even attempt to fight the new comers pushing in front of them, having to wait over an hour in the cold, and also missing the game. MAXX, you disgust me.

10 Sep 2011 01:01a.m.

Stranded wrote:

Surly a class action against Maxx transport from all thoese that were left stranded would be appropriate. The total lack of any idea of what was happening from both maxx transport staff and the police left Aucklanders in the bark. Clearly not the first time this has happened.

09 Sep 2011 11:50p.m.

Sean wrote:

It really is disgraceful, I was down at the waterfront and had an amazing time - everyone appeared to be really enjoying themselves and although some were going a little over the top everyone was in good spirits. It was a wonderful ceremony. Regardless, the poor train service is definitely a bad look for the country, and action needs to be taken to improve the situation ASAP. It would have been a great disappointment to foreign visitors, who had spent a great deal of money to come and see the game only to be let down. Sort the transportation out, don't let it ruin the RWC for New Zealand and its guests.