Aratere to resume sailing following electrical fault stand-down

The Aratere in Wellington in 2011 after it was lengthened.
Photo:
RNZ
The Aratere will resume sailing Friday evening after an electrical fault took it out of service.
The ferry experienced a propulsion fault and spent
several hours at anchor in Queen Charlotte Sound
on Wednesday night while a specialist electrician came to fix the problem.
KiwiRail said the ferry left Picton at about 8.50pm, but then "experienced an unexpected issue with its propulsion drive" while sailing.
That issue was fixed at about 1am and the vessel resumed its trip to Wellington and arrived early on Thursday.
A KiwiRail spokesperson said the fault on Aratere was repaired on Friday afternoon, and the ship had completed a successful sea trial.
The ferry is due to resume sailing at around 6pm.
Sailings on Thursday were cancelled while the fault was fixed, and KiwiRail later cancelled sailings on Friday while it awaited technical support from the original equipment manufacturer in Auckland to diagnose the root cause of the problem.
KiwiRail thanked customers and passengers for their patience as it worked to identify and rectify the fault.
The Aratere is due to be
retired in August.
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