Documents released under the Official Information Act contain plenty of finger-pointing, but few answers, as debate over who will pay a $275,000 bill for damage to Dunedin's railway pedestrian overbridge rumbles into its second year.
The Dunedin City Council, KiwiRail and Port Otago have been locked in a back-and-forth over liability for the damage, and the bill, since the accident on February 12, 2008 - more than 14 months ago.
The bridge was badly damaged when it was struck by collapsible metal flaps which popped up on a freight train container.
The train itself was owned by Toll Rail - now KiwiRail - and the train's crew were Toll employees, while the loading of freight was the responsibility of staff at South Freight, a division of Port Otago.
The container itself was owned by a shipping company, believed to be Auckland-based Cubic Transport Services (CTS).
However, KiwiRail and Port Otago have so far both refused to accept responsibility or liability, and no complete explanation for the cause of the accident has ever been made public.
This week, KiwiRail - which bought the combined operations and assets of Toll NZ and its freight division, Toll Rail, last year - released emails, accident reports and other documents related to the accident to the Otago Daily Times.
The release came more than four months after the ODT's Official Information Act request on December 18 last year, and after KiwiRail staff initially refused to release any information, citing commercial sensitivity.
They reconsidered after the refusal was referred to the Office of the Ombudsmen, but even so, large tracts of the material, including two reports on investigations into last year's collision, were blanked out before the documents' release.
KiwiRail spokesman Kevin Ramshaw, of Wellington, said the information withheld remained commercially sensitive and "potentially prejudicial to resolving the issue of liability".
However, the released material still provided an insight into the debate between the parties over who was responsible for the damage.
One incident report, prepared for Toll NZ by K M Howes and Associates in February last year, included several photographs showing locking pins for the damaged container's flaps in the "unlocked" position after the accident.
However, a section of the report discussing the circumstances surrounding the accident has been blanked out.
A subsequent letter from Toll Rail said liability for any loss, damage or claim rested with Port Otago, South Freight - a division of Port Otago - or the shipment's consignor, Auckland-based Cubic Transport Services (CTS).
The letter, from Toll's finance and IT general manager Brian Fouhy, was sent to all three parties on March 5 last year, and warned Toll NZ planned to submit a claim to recover its costs from those parties.
An email sent on April 17 last year by Toll NZ general counsel Greg Steele to TT Club - an insurance company for transport and logistics operators - argued its employees on board the train at the time of the accident had acted "appropriately".
However, on April 22 last year, the Dunedin City Council's insurance broker, Fraser Macandrew Ryan, sought an acceptance of liability, and compensation, from Toll NZ for the accident.
Based on the council's investigations, it appeared Toll NZ "is liable for the damage sustained", the letter read.
In May last year, an investigation report prepared by Toll Rail contained a summary of events leading up to the accident, as well as the moment of impact.
However, four of the report's five pages, describing what happened when the train arrived at South Freight for loading, before the collision, were removed before the information was released to the ODT by KiwiRail.
Subsequently, a letter from DCC chief executive Jim Harland to KiwiRail general manager Karen Paterson, on December 22 last year, described the council as "the innocent party" seeking "redress" following the accident.
The council wanted to meet both parties - KiwiRail and Port Otago - who "appear connected to the accident" to discuss costs.
KiwiRail's reply was not included in the bundle of information released this week.
The release of information comes just over a month after Mr Harland expressed his frustration at the delays during a phone call with the ODT on March 12.
He had written to both parties three months earlier seeking a meeting to discuss costs, but had not received a reply from Port Otago.
"As a chief executive, I'm not happy about it. It's been a long time," he said.
Contacted yesterday, all three parties were reluctant to discuss progress towards a resolution, although Mr Harland confirmed a meeting with Port Otago had been held last week, and another was planned - also involving KiwiRail - within weeks.
Issues of liability still had not been resolved, though, and Mr Harland was reluctant to put a timeframe on any resolution.
"I would be disappointed if it was months," he said, echoing a similar comment by Port Otago chief executive Geoff Plunket, in December.
Contacted on Wednesday, Mr Plunket would only say he did not want to comment "while discussions or negotiations are under way".
He also would not give a timeframe.
Mr Ramshaw said it was "not unusual for commercial disputes to be protracted".
"From KiwiRail's perspective, we would like to see the issue settled. However, we are only one of a number of parties involved."
