The Truth about Tangiwai

When a big lahar hits, this embankment acts as a dam, trapping water and debris. And to make matters worse, the bridge crosses the river on a sharp bend at the far end of the flood plain.

– Narrator Paul Gittins on the placement of the bridge at Tangiwai

The railways case was however straightforward. The Tangiwai disaster had been an act of God, and unforeseeable. They did not seem to take the body of evidence seriously, and dug their toes in. At the inquiry, independent engineers were critical of the railways.

– Narrator Paul Gittins, on the 1954 board of inquiry into the cause of the Tangiwai accident