A salvage team have been at work all day in the Picton Harbour to retreive the locomotive that was shunted into the sea two days ago.
The locomotive submerged in Picton. Photo: Sam Gee
A spokesperson for KiwiRail said the team had made good progess and intended to lift the locomotive out of the water this evening.
Last night, the wagon and two empty tank containers were salvaged from the harbour.
KiwiRail said safety was critical and steps were taken to care for the environment and the contractors managing the lift.
Yesterday, divers plugged the locomotive fuel tank breathers and confirmed the fuel tank was intact.
Around 15 litres of diesel spilt from the locomotive and was caught by containment booms in the water.
KiwiRail's chief operating officer Todd Moyle is overseeing the recovery effort and he was grateful for the support of the Harbourmaster and Port Marlborough with the retrieval.
On Friday morning, divers attached air bags to the locomotive to carefully bring it into position alongside the wharf where it could be lifted out.
Moyle says two 300 tonne cranes will be used to lift the 50 tonne locomotive onto a truck.
It was too early to know the damage caused to the shunt locomotive.
Repairs will be carried out to the lower linkspan for the Aratere's berth to allow the ferry to resume operations.