Photo: LDR
Auckland commuters are again facing train delays and cancellations, for the third day in a row.
Western, Southern and Eastern line train services are affected.
Auckland Transport said there was a problem with the track at Britomart Station.
Platform 2 and platform 3 at Britomart are out of action until further notice.
On Monday, thousands of Auckland commuters were affected by train cancellations.
Auckland Transport said 88 trains were cancelled across its commuter network on Monday due to a range of problems - not just the heat.
On Tuesday afternoon, Auckland Transport said trains on all lines were running at "reduced frequencies" because of KiwiRail train speed restrictions and train services were cancelled.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown was demanding the city's transport bosses explain why the trains keep being disrupted.
A 'please explain' meeting between the mayor and key transport agency heads is under way.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said as a first-world country, Auckland trains should be able to run in the normal heat of summer.
Luxon said it was a matter for the transport agencies to sort out, but this was not the time for excuses.
"We've seen with KiwiRail pretty abysmal management of the ferry project, which went from $750 million to $3.2 billion, and we've also seen some pretty poor excuses, I think, about rails getting hot and as a result we can't run trains in Auckland," he said.
"We are a first-world country, that doesn't sound like a great excuse to me."
Disruptions to be ongoing
Auckland Transport public transport director Stacey van der Putten on Tuesday said the disruption to the city's train network was likely to continue for the next month or so.
The problems were not a quick fix, she said.
"We do have concerns that come CRL we're not going to have that reliability in the network to run CRL and integrate it into the network, that's what needs to be resolved here."
Transport Minister Simeon Brown, who is also the Minister for Auckland, said he had called KiwiRail into his office on Monday.
Brown said he had made it clear to KiwiRail that he expected far better coordination and communication in these situations.
The responsibility also lies with Auckland Transport and the operator, he said.
Disruptions common - commentator
A transport commentator says Auckland commuters have had only two days this year when train services have run as planned.
Greater Auckland director Matt Lowrie said of the 16 working days since the network reopened after summer maintenance, 14 of those days have had train delays and cancellations.
He told Midday Report the disruption has been ongoing, due in part to under-maintenance that went back years.
"It's been significant. Of the 16 working days since the network was reopened again after summer works, 14 of those days have seen significant delays and cancellations of trains because of track faults, heat and sometimes crew shortages," Lowrie said.
"There's been a lot of disruption."
He said Auckland's mayor Wayne Brown needed to put pressure on the transport agencies to fix the problems plaguing the city's train service, when he meets with them this afternoon.
"We've had three and a half years of significant disruptions to rail services in Auckland as a result of track issues and we've had almost radio silence from the government on that and so I would expect the council to start putting pressure on the government and these agencies to get these issues sorted."
Mayor Brown has called the heads of the agencies to his office today, to discuss how to fix the problems.
