Repairs put main trunk line back on track

KiwiRail field engineer Robert Storm (left) and trainee field engineer Redford Easton inspect repairs to the main trunk line between Dunedin and Oamaru at Katiki Beach, north of Palmerston, yesterday.

The line was repaired and reopened about 8pm yesterday after a freight train derailed on Wednesday, damaging 800m of the track.

Kiwirail spokesman Kevin Ramshaw said it would be several weeks before it was known why nine wagons on the northbound freight train had derailed.