Railways

You would think Fred Dagg, a couple of sheep and a 2m-tall jar of Marmite lying in your garden would make an absolute mess of your precious flower plots.

A freight train has hit a trailer loaded with straw left on the tracks by a farmer in Marlborough this afternoon.

Labour and the Greens are throwing their weight behind a union campaign for KiwiRail to build Auckland's new electric locomotives and railcars.

Dunedin yesterday launched its bid to have a $375 million contract for Auckland's new electric commuter trains awarded to railway workshops in Dunedin and Lower Hutt - creating as many as 1270 jobs.

More than 6000 rail sleepers are needed for immediate repairs to the damaged 16.5km section of main-line rail track between Clinton and Balclutha.

Rail services between Invercargill and Dunedin are expected to resume on Wednesday after two coal wagons derailed and damaged the track.

Britain's High Court has issued an injunction stopping a planned four-day rail strike next week.

• The Beaumont Jockey Club was fortunate in securing perfect weather for its twentieth race meeting on Monday (says the Tuapeka Times), and the attendance was a record one.

An "aging train fleet" is the reason for cancellations and delays on Wellington's rail network this morning, KiwiRail says.

A third fault on Wellington's rail network has further inconvenienced commuters, with a signal and points failure around 11am seeing trains replaced by buses between Plimmerton and Paraparaumu.