18 Nov 2008

Maintenance crew nearly hit by freight train

12:54 pm on 18 November 2008

A freight train ploughed into line maintenance equipment in Southland on Monday.

Workers who were laying sleepers at the railway line at McNab, near Gore, had to jump out of the way before the northbound train hit their vehicles around 12.45pm.

The New Zealand Railways Corporation says it is unclear why the train did not stop. No one was injured, but the maintenance equipment was significantly damaged.

The incident is being investigated by KiwiRail and Ontrack.