Fires, unruly passengers and prams play part in lengthy CRL testing

The Auckland City Rail Link (CRL) is undertaking large-scale safety testing ahead of its opening later this year.

Volunteers have been taking part in a range of real-life simulations to test evacuation procedures.

Auckland Transport rail services group manager Mark Lambert told Morning Report the organisation has been working with emergency services to rehearse scenarios such as fires and other serious, and not so serious incidents.

"There's obviously the emergencies, and tests such as fires, derailments in tunnels. Also, if a train breaks down in the tunnel, fires in stations as well."

The tests involved around 400 people and lasted for around three hours. A large part of the testing was around evacuating passengers from inside the CRL's tunnel network, which is 45 metres underground at its deepest point.

"We have some actors in the crowd as well, such as unruly passengers, or people with prams which really make it a real-life scenario for our staff.

"All the systems are being tested - the evacuation alarms, tunnel ventilation systems which push the smoke through the tunnels and out again. It's really testing all those systems and our staff, so we've got a pretty good idea of how ready we're going."

No official start date has been announced for the CRL, and Lambert said that would depend on how the current tests played out.

"The City Rail Link has just entered into its testing commissioning stage. There are a number of different emergency scenarios that we're testing over the next month or so, around 15 in total."

No major issues had been encountered so far, but there had been a few smaller problems.

"The test on Saturday, one of the escalators didn't work before we started the test, then there was another technical issue with one of the systems, so the staff are actually responding in real time to some hiccups," Lambert said.

"That's really pushing the boundaries for our staff."

Pressed for a potential opening date, Lambert said there might be more to say in the coming weeks.

"The tests are pretty much the last stage before the contractor, Link Alliance, puts in its applications to the council. So we're really, really close to construction completion.

"Let's see how the next four weeks or so go around these tests. We're hoping we can give a little bit more information at that point."

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