On April 28, KiwiRail issued a media statement containing the revelatory detail that “there is only one Track Evaluation Car in New Zealand”, and it was broken.
Two islands. Roughly 4000 kilometres of rail track. One “Track Evaluation Car”. (The capital letters are KiwiRail’s, by the way. But with just one in the country, “Track Evaluation Car” could probably insist on being called “Sir.”)
The consequence of Sir being broken was, as KiwiRail put it, somewhat coyly: “Trains to and from Wellington will be running more slowly.”
Slowly, yes. And, also, not running at all.
A “rapid review” was ordered. (“Rapid” being markedly at odds with the speed of Wellington’s trains.)
