The Haywards–Plimmerton Line was a railway development proposed several times between 1879 and the 1960s to connect the
Hutt Valley
The Hutt Valley (or 'The Hutt') is the large area of fairly flat land in the Hutt River valley in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Like the river that flows through it, it takes its name from Sir William Hutt, a director of the New Zeala ...
and
Porirua areas of
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...
via
Haywards
Haywards is a small hillside suburb in the Hutt Valley near Wellington, New Zealand. It is notable for its large electrical substation, which is the main switching point for the Wellington region, and the home of the North Island converter sta ...
.
1879 proposal
The route was one of three options for a "Proposed Hutt Valley-Waikanae Route" which was to be the main route out of Wellington in 1879, although when built by the
Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company
The Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR or W&MR) was a private railway company that built, owned and operated the Wellington-Manawatu railway line between Thorndon in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, and Longburn, near Palmers ...
(WMR) the line that became part of the
North Island Main Trunk
The North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) is the main railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, connecting the capital city Wellington with the country's largest city, Auckland. The line is long, built to the New Zealand rail gauge of and se ...
(NIMT) north of Wellington went via Johnsonville (the present
Johnsonville Line
The Johnsonville Branch, also known as the Johnsonville Line, is a commuter branch line railway from the main Railway Station of Wellington, New Zealand to the northern suburb of Johnsonville via Ngaio and Khandallah.
Transdev Wellington ...
).
20th century proposals
In the 1940s to 1960s a rail link from the Hutt Valley to Porirua was proposed for expected residential and industrial development in the Pauatahanui-Judgeford area at the head of the Pauatahanui Arm of the Porirua Harbour. This link was to follow the route of the present Paremata to Haywards Road (
SH58) and required a tunnel. This proposed link was regarded a long-term project not justified in the immediate future and was abandoned in the 1970s.
Routes out of Wellington
In 1878 a 61-mile Wellington-Foxton railway was included in
Public Works Department
This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure.
See also
* Public works
* Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...
estimates, so in 1879 PWD surveyors ran three trial lines for the Wellington-Foxton railway. No 2 line surveyed by Climie via Johnsonville followed the coach route, and was eventually chosen. No 1 line surveyed by Wink and Hales which went from
Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Uta) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area.
Geography
The Upper Hutt city centre lies approximately 26 km north-e ...
to
Waikanae
Waikanae (, ) is a town on the Kapiti Coast, 60 kilometres north of the Wellington CBD. The name is a Māori word meaning "waters" (''wai'') "of the grey mullet".
The town lies between Paraparaumu, eight kilometres to the southwest, and Ōt ...
via
Akatarawa
The Akatarawa Valley is a valley in the Tararua Range of New Zealand's North Island. It provides a link from the upper reaches of the Hutt Valley to Waikanae on the Kapiti Coast through rugged hill country. The valley is lowly populated and cont ...
required two tunnels, a bridge over the
Hutt River, a horseshoe curve to Bluff Creek Valley (now
Reikorangi), and reached a height of 1560 feet above sea level, higher even than the
Wairarapa Line
The Wairarapa Line is a secondary railway line in the south-east of the North Island of New Zealand. The line runs for , connects the capital city Wellington with the Palmerston North - Gisborne Line at Woodville, via Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt ...
. The line would have steep gradients of between 1 in 30 and 1 in 40, but was seriously considered, perhaps as there was millable timber in the area.
The proposed No 3 line followed the
Western Hutt Road, left the
Wellington-Masterton Railway 12 miles 55 chains from Wellington (approximately 1.2 km south of the present day SH 2/SH 58 intersection), and climbed Haywards Hill to the saddle. It followed the road route to the "noteworthy" settlement of
Pauatahanui, then climbed the left bank of the Horokiri Stream valley (what is now the
Transmission Gully route), went under the saddle with a 27 chain (540 m) tunnel, and at 23 miles reached the existing route of the NIMT at McKay’s Homestead (now McKay’s Crossing of the NIMT). "The Haywards route .... was quickly dropped, although it is still on the map today (1972) as a possible connecting link between the suburban districts of Porirua and the Hutt Valley to serve the new urban developments now taking place". This proposed route would have avoided the difficult Pukerua Bay-Paekakariki coastal section of the NIMT. The 20th century proposals joined the NIMT further south near Plimmerton or Mana.
The Hutt-Porirua Link
In 1946 the Haywards–Plimmerton Line (link) was included in a 10-year plan for public works, and was allowed for in the rerouting of the Taita-Silverstream section of the
Hutt Valley Line
The Hutt Valley Line is the electrified train service operated by Transdev Wellington on behalf of Metlink on the section of the Wairarapa Line railway between Wellington and Upper Hutt, New Zealand.
History Construction
The Hutt Valley li ...
. Justification was expected large-scale development in the Pauatahanui-Judgeford area, with a new town, and expected industrial development to rival the Hutt Valley, possibly requiring a two or three mile spur line from Plimmerton.
In 1957 a new line via Haywards was not expected to be built in 20–30 years. But in 1967 there were proposals for a new city at
Pauatahanui, including a Horokiwi Valley Industrial Area requiring a new 2 mile (industrial) spur line. By 1969 the
New Zealand Railways Department
The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR (New Zealand Government Railways) and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway ...
(NZR) projects committee was considering rail proposals for a
new town with a population of 75,000 and two industrial areas (400 acres near Plimmerton and 300 acres on the Haywards side). Options were an
electrified
Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source.
The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...
double track 9.25 miles long costing $23 million with a 3.25 mile tunnel through Haywards, or a spur line with a 12 chain (0.15 mile) tunnel costing $2m (2 miles) or $3m (3 miles).
A Wellington Regional Authority report of December 1971 on a new town at Pauatahanui saw the population of Pauatahanui growing from 4100 (1971) to 45,000 (1986), but said that the existing Whitby development could be seen as an extension of the existing Paremata-Plimmerton development rather than the start of a new Pauatahanui development.
Two NZR estimates in 1974 were (1) $73½ to $75½ million for a double track electrified line and tunnel or (2) $15 to $40½ million for a non-electrified single track line and tunnel and a small goods yard.
In 1976 the proposals included an alternative route for the NIMT via the Horokiwi Valley to bypass the existing unstable coastal section and provide a direct connection from the Hutt Valley to the NIMT, though the rail route via
Pukerua Bay and
Paekakariki would be retained for commuter services.
But by 1978 NZR decided that the project was not expected to proceed, and some land in Acheron Rd, Paremata was transferred to the
Porirua City Council
Porirua, ( mi, Pari-ā-Rua) a city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand, is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. The name 'Porirua' is a corruption of 'Pari-rua', meaning "the tide swe ...
, which was already using it for a children’s park. While subdivision at Whitby was advancing towards Pauatahanui and Judgeford, the scale of development was less than predicted. And industrial development in the Hutt Valley decreased with New Zealand's decreasing
barriers to trade, as did industrial rail traffic with the removal of protection of rail freight from road competition.
The project was originally (1946) called the Plimmerton-Taita Railway or Taita-Plimmerton-Pauatahanui Railway. Other names were Dolly Varden-Haywards; Manor Park-Paremata, Mana-Haywards or Manor Park-Plimmerton railway (Dolly Varden was the earlier name for Mana).
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Haywards-Plimmerton Line
Rail transport in Wellington
Proposed railway lines in New Zealand
Public transport in the Wellington Region
Porirua
Lower Hutt