Please attribute to KiwiRail Chief Operating Officer Todd Moyle:

KiwiRail is on track to reopen the rail lines into Wellington in time for today's late-afternoon commuter peak. Details of services will be available from MetLink.

Eight sets of points (which allow trains to switch tracks) and sections of track were damaged on Tuesday night when four container wagons on a freight train derailed at the junction as it was leaving the Wellington Rail Yard. The rail lines were closed from about 7.40pm.

KiwiRail crews from across the lower North Island worked through the night to remove the train and derailed wagons and have today been focussed on repairing the rail lines.

KiwiRail crews will continue to work on the junction at night over the course of the week, to fully restore the network to its normal operation. This will be done when commuter trains are not operating.

KiwiRail is investigating the cause of the derailment and how to prevent similar incidents in the future.

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