Shifts are normally 7-10hrs; maximum duty time is 11hrs, after which we are not permitted to drive any train or car and have to be driven back to depot. There's normally an hour between starting the shift and departure on the train (half an hour for paperwork & loco checks, half an hour for pre-departure shunting / train inspection). Hamilton-Waiouru is 4.5hrs each way without stopping, and there's meant to be a half hour meal break enroute, so if we go to Waiouru we're getting pretty close to maximum time.

Found a photo of the accident in Te Ara, and a 1995 TAIC report mentioned in passing about the 1981 Silver Ferns derailment near Waiouru. From what I can gather, it was the 55km/h curve starting at 44:40 (but coming the other way).

@@dl9786-kr My family and I were travelling to Auckland a few weeks prior and was served by the female steward killed in the accident. Shocker. On the same trip to Auckland, a farmer knew we were coming and slit the throat of a sheep as we went passed. What an arrse

About a month ago

Sawmill and Pulpmill at Karioi & Tangiwai were still running.

That's a set of safety points, so that if a train had a SPAD (signal passed at danger, i.e. went through a red) while the route is set for an oncoming train, it will be diverted to the runoff siding and derailed in order to protect the oncoming train who would be proceeding correctly on signals. The same exists for the opposite direction on the other side of the bridge.

@@dl9786-kr Thanks. Once upon a time I knew that such things existed, but had totally forgotten. :)

Otherwise known as "Catch Points" -they are deliberately designed to derail trains that pass a signal at danger [SPAD]

Train was 228, and for the worldwide audience, it was a freight train in New Zealand, and this happened going through a town called Ngaruawahia, between Hamilton and Auckland.

I'm sure many would love to have all the thousands of level crossings in the country turned into over/underbridges, but the taxpayers aren't willing to pay for it ;)

I'm not allowed south of Waiouru, I'm afraid

@@dl9786-kr are you rated for certain areas only or something?

I'll give em benefit of the doubt, and assume they were in a line of traffic at the intersection, the barrier arm dropped on top of their car and they panicked and froze 🤷‍♂️ at least they came to their senses and backed off the crossing just in time!

New Zealand, man - they don't vote for Trump or Harris. Man, they don't even get to vote directly for their Prime Minister. Whoever's party gets the most seats provides the PM and cabinet.

In fairness to the person, my take on it (after watching the video a lot of times) is that they were probably stopped too far onto the crossing in a queue of traffic at the intersection, the barrier came down on their car and they panicked and froze. There was no evidence of them pushing up once they came into view, and I haven't seen any other POV.

That seems like a good assessment.

Had so.eone panic when the alarms came on down south one evening and skid onto the crossing in front of me. They backed up clear of the rail bit, not the arms, and one ended up resting on the roof, giving everyone a hell of a fright. Those days stick with the LE for sure.

Spot on! I got curious once and timed it - 80-90 seconds between getting a yellow departure and a green departure. Yellow departure means the half-block (absolute intermediate signal about halfway in the section - a feature of single-line) is red. The half-block is just under 3km away, with a sighting distance of about 400m. Going on the yellow departure means having to remember the half-block is red, and approaching it with due respect and caution. With a 1500t, 735m train, that means not fast. It's absolutely worth waiting another 90 seconds to be able to drive at line speed through the entire block section, with no stress, no crawling, and no risk of a SPAD.

@@dl9786-kr and it increases the distance between you and Te Huia which reduces the chance of catching up to it. giving you a good home run. Liking your videos. Been nice to see Mt/Tauranga from the rail view

Te Huia can go up to 100km/h, and I might be able to do 80km/h if the Driver Advisory System is feeling kind to me ;) Passenger trains always get priority because they're faster.

@@dl9786-kr thanks dude. Never thought of a passing loop being used in that way before. Always seen passing loops being used to manage opposing traffic lol Also, thanks for the videos. They're nice to watch.

Anything north of Westfield yard is outside my area, I'm afraid

Our interlocking detects failed crossing alarms, but to enforce that the arms have to be in the fully down position to clear the signal? That seems unnecessarily hardcore and sounds like more things to fail and cause signal outages and disruption. (That's also at risk of being abused by the locals, who... have been known to tamper with equipment and loot stopped trains.) But hey, I'm just some monkey that pushes levers to keep greens coming towards me, and keep reds away from me.

@@roblane6368 automatic crossings aren't interlocked with signals, they're activated by track circuits

In North America, crossing protection devices are not interlocked with the signal system at all, except in very rare cases where there is a road crossing within the confines of a track interlocking plant.

@@evanstauffer4470 Nor could they be, realistically. The crossing gates activate very roughly 20 seconds before the train occupies the crossing. It can easily take a minute or more to stop a train even in an emergency, so my the time I know that a car is on the crossing, it’s too late to stop. If a problem is reported in time, we obviously do either stop short or approach at a speed that will slow us to stop if needed.

Sure was! With that scheduled Whangamarino overtake 😂

Obviously... 😐

Why more horn? Flashing lights, bells and a physical barrier didn't stop them. The horn won't help. Americans are horn happy and they still hit 1500+ cars every week.

@@trainsimulatordriver I agree with @jessejohnson, not enough warning of the train's arrival at the crossing. You are right, the bells, lights, and barrier didn't stop them in this incident, but one lousy toot of the horn half a mile away from the crossing isn't much warning to all the traffic (including pedestrian, bike, scooter, etc.) that may be about to use the crossing. Do I want a full 40 seconds of horn? No, but one lousy toot can be pretty ambiguous.

@@stanpatterson5033 let's take Europe, in most European countries they'll only blow the horn in an emergency and they have very few level crossing accidents. It's about people taking responsibility for themselves not relying on others to warn them and in this case provide a fifth warning (signs, lights, bells, barriers).

@@trainsimulatordriver Well, on the issue of horn use, I guess we will have to agree to disagree. However, I hope that we can agree on the fact that stupidity is Universal. Unfortunately, the hub of the Universe seems to be the USA for stupid drivers who ignore multiple warnings, take stupid chances, and end up becoming statistics. I see plenty of evidence that it happens often in Europe, though.

@@stanpatterson5033 fair enough

Naaaaaa the bumper is just fine😵😵

It’s slightly noticeable when it hits the car. Slightly.

At Te Maunga? Google Earth Historic Imagery shows they built a new, larger triangle in 2016.

@dl9786-kr Cheers mate so much has changed on the system since I moved to Oz including those new signal indicator boards

An LE is employed by and based at a particular depot, and is certified for that depot's territory only. Changing depots (from what I understand) is more like changing jobs. There are at least 15-16 depots around the country, each with its own sections of track it runs on (adjacent depots share some track). Each depot recruits separately as needed, turnover is low (people tend to stay in LE roles for years/decades), and some depots are quite small (some have less than 10 LEs total). Some depots go for years without needing to recruit, and those that do will sometimes do one round of recruitment a year and fill all their vacancies for the coming year. That is why you won't see all locations being advertised, even if you've been refreshing it nearly daily for years (like I did before I eventually got here.)

@@dl9786-kr what depot you recruited for if you want to answer

@@vazerohit there's no point not answering that 😂 anyone that knows enough about (or works in) the railways can tell from the channel's videos that I'm from Te Rapa.