On June 2, Dunedin Railways was presented with the NZ Transport Agency Tourist and Heritage Rail Safety Award at the 2024 Federation of Rail Organisations of New Zealand Achievement Awards in Palmerston North.
Dunedin Railways health, safety and training manager Donald Ross said it was "pretty good for him and the team".
"It’s really been the whole team that was involved.
"The big thing is managing the isolation in the Taieri Gorge.
"There is difficult access for emergency services so we have to be able to manage until we can get, or get to, external help."
Dunedin Railways operates historic train tours in some of the most extreme parts of the country, in terms of both remoteness and weather.
Keeping sightseers safe along a route such as the Taieri Gorge Tourist service involves a solution to almost every problem, Mr Ross said.
These include unusual situations such as a train becoming stranded, passengers requiring evacuation, communication failures, injuries and medical events.
When trains were up in the gorge, there was real-time monitoring of weather conditions in an area known for extreme summers, freezing winters, enough rain to wipe out foliage and winds strong enough to fell a tree.
Dunedin Railway installed monitoring equipment able to provide early warning of potential risk for those using the line.
An NZTA spokesman said the judges noted Dunedin Railways had demonstrated commitment to continual improvement in safety by revising its procedures, including incident and accident response, severe weather monitoring, rail temperature monitoring and response plans for natural disasters.
"We were impressed by Dunedin Railways’ response to various scenarios, such as weather monitoring in the Taieri Gorge."
