Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Hutt commuters held up while gas pipes checked

Updated at 8:51 am on 31 July 2010

Hundreds of Hutt Valley rail commuters were delayed on Friday evening because of fears of a major gas leak at a station.

The Fire Service closed Waterloo station in Lower Hutt shortly after 6pm after a member of the public reported a hissing noise and the smell of gas from pipes beneath the nearby Waterloo Bridge.

But one of its gasfitters checked the pipes and could find no problem, the service says, so the area was reopened about half an hour later.

Police put a large cordon around the bridge, blocking off all traffic down Waterloo Rd and around the railway station, while the pipes were checked.

KiwiRail says its trains were stopped at the stations either side of Waterloo; it estimates that several hundred passengers were delayed by half an hour.

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