The Hutt Valley Line is the
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 ...
train service operated by
Transdev Wellington
Transdev Wellington is the operator of Wellington's Metlink rail network in New Zealand. The entity is a partnership of Transdev Australasia and Hyundai Rotem, who were awarded the contract to operate and maintain the commuter rail system in De ...
on behalf of Metlink on the section of 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 ...
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
between
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 me ...
and
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#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropolitan area.
Geography
The Upper Hutt city cent ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
.
History
Construction
The Hutt Valley line was the first railway out of Wellington, preceding 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 ...
's west coast route, which was later acquired by the
New Zealand Government Railways
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 ...
and incorporated into 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 ser ...
. The first proposal for a railway line from Wellington to the
Rimutaka Range
The Remutaka Range (spelled Rimutaka Range before 2017) is the southernmost range of a mountain chain in the lower North Island of New Zealand. The chain continues north into the Tararua, then Ruahine Ranges, running parallel with the east co ...
was put to the
Wellington provincial government by
Robert Stokes in 1858, and five years later the government gave support to the idea. In 1866, the government's investigating committee approved the line and the Wellington, Hutt Valley and Wairarapa Railway Ordinance was passed on 2 July 1866. It authorised a line to be built to either gauge of , or a
narrow gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
of ; but sufficient funds could not be raised in England and the railway proposal was temporarily abandoned.
In 1870, Premier
Julius Vogel
Sir Julius Vogel (24 February 1835 – 12 March 1899) was the eighth premier of New Zealand. His administration is best remembered for the issuing of bonds to fund railway construction and other public works. He was the first Jewish prime mi ...
included a railway from Wellington to the Wairarapa in his "
Great Public Works" policy, and while in London to raise funds for a number of projects in this policy, he was approached by contractors
Brogden & Sons. They received a contract to survey and construct the first portion of the line, from Wellington to
Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area.
It is New Zealand's sixth most p ...
, and construction began on 20 August 1872, with the first sod turned at
Pipitea in Wellington. The railway took longer to construct due to the difficulties associated with stabilising the shoreline of
Wellington Harbour. In July 1873, the railway reached
Kaiwharawhara
Kaiwharawhara is an urban seaside suburb of Wellington in New Zealand's North Island. It is located north of the centre of the city on the western shore of Wellington Harbour, where the Kaiwharawhara Stream reaches the sea from its headwaters ...
, followed by
Ngauranga
Ngauranga is a suburb of New Zealand's capital city, Wellington, in the lower North Island. Situated on the western bank of Wellington Harbour, it lies to the north of the centre of the city. The name comes from the Māori language, Maori-langua ...
in early 1874 and Lower Hutt on 14 April 1874.
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
s had now arrived to work the line and service began, with four trains daily each way (three on Sundays).
Construction of the next section to
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#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropolitan area.
Geography
The Upper Hutt city cent ...
along the western bank of the
Hutt River proceeded swiftly. On 11 May 1874, a contract was let to Charles McKirdy, and the line was opened to
Silverstream
Silverstream is a suburb of Upper Hutt in New Zealand, just under 7 km south-west of the Upper Hutt CBD. It is in the lower (southern) part of the North Island of New Zealand at the southern end of Upper Hutt, close to the Taitā Gorge, ...
in December 1875; this included a 272-metre bridge across the Hutt River just before Silverstream, and in other locations, thousands of bags of cement had to be used to stabilise the railway's route alongside the river. The line opened to Upper Hutt on 1 February 1876.
On 28 December 1877 the line to
Kaitoke
Kaitoke (sometimes called Pakuratahi), part of Upper Hutt City, is a locality in the southern North Island of New Zealand. It is located at the northern end of the Hutt Valley, 45 kilometres northeast of Wellington City and six kilometres from th ...
was officially opened by the Governor,. On 1 January 1878 the line to
Kaitoke
Kaitoke (sometimes called Pakuratahi), part of Upper Hutt City, is a locality in the southern North Island of New Zealand. It is located at the northern end of the Hutt Valley, 45 kilometres northeast of Wellington City and six kilometres from th ...
was opened to the public; Kaitoke becoming the railhead for the Wairarapa for nearly ten months (to 16 October).
The section into the Wairarapa opened on 12 August 1878 to
Featherston. This section descended the Rimutaka ranges via the
Rimutaka Incline
The Rimutaka Incline was a , gauge railway line on an average grade of 1-in-15 using the Fell system between Summit and Cross Creek stations on the Wairarapa side of the original Wairarapa Line in the Wairarapa district of New Zealand. The ...
.
The
Pipitea Point railway station terminus in Wellington was destroyed by fire on 16 January 1878, but remained open. A permanent replacement further south on Featherston Street opened on 1 November 1880; it was moved northwards to near the intersection of Thorndon and Lambton Quays in 1885 and later became known as
Lambton railway station. It was replaced by the present
Wellington railway station
Wellington railway station, or Wellington Central station, is the main railway station serving Wellington, New Zealand, and is the southern terminus of the North Island Main Trunk, Wairarapa Line and Johnsonville Line.
The station opened in ...
on Bunny Street in 1937.
The route alongside the harbour from Wellington to Lower Hutt was straightened and duplicated. The work was approved in 1903 by the ''Hutt Railway and Road Improvement Act'', and began in 1904. From Lower Hutt it was completed to Petone (1905), Rocky Point (1906), Paparangi Point (1907), Ngauranga (1908), Kaiwharawhara (1909), and Wellington in 1911.
In the 1900s, a number of new stations and sidings were added:
Trentham in 1907;
Melling, Gosse and Co's siding,
Pitcaithly's (station and siding), Belmont Quarry Co's siding (not to be confused with the
Belmont railway station),
Silverstream Bridge and
Heretaunga in 1908.
Hutt Valley Branch
The original route was built along the western bank of the Hutt River and Wellington Harbour to provide a direct route from Wellington to the Wairarapa via Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt.
Automatic single-line signalling (APB) was introduced in 1922; from Wellington to Lower Hutt on 27 March and from Lower Hutt to Upper Hutt on 25 September. On 25 May 1927 signalling and interlocking on the double track Hutt Valley Junction to Waterloo (then a branch) was introduced. Later (1930s?) a switch-lock trailing crossover named ''Halfway'' was installed between Ngahuranga and Petone at ''Rocky Point'', to allow single-line working when the seaward side (south) track was unusable because of southerly storms. But it was seldom used and was removed c1958 during track relaying. A single-person shelter was provided for the (unlucky) operator, and was still there in 1998.
In 1924, an extension of ''about 9 miles 34 chain'' (15.2 km) as the Wellington-Napier Line (Lower Hutt Valley Duplication) was authorised by the Railways Authorisation Act, 1924.
In 1925, the Hutt Valley Lands Settlement Act contained a provision for a branch line railway from
Petone
Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one''), a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The Māori name means "end of the sand beach".
Europeans first settled in Pe ...
to
Waterloo., known as the Hutt Valley or Waterloo Branch. Initially, a single line was planned, but as a substantial 233-metre bridge with 17 piers over the Hutt River at Ava was needed, and as it was to be the future mainline as the Western Hutt route could not be duplicated north of Melling, the new line was double track. It was built by the
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 ...
, and work started in April 1925, before the first sod had been turned by the
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Gordon Coates
Joseph Gordon Coates (3 February 1878 – 27 May 1943) served as the 21st prime minister of New Zealand from 1925 to 1928. He was the third successive Reform prime minister since 1912.
Born in rural Northland, Coates grew up on a cattle run a ...
on 16 April 1925. Construction was simple with minimal earthworks, although industrial troubles in Britain delayed delivery of steel girders, and the temporary structure was nearly washed away by a flood. Three new stations at
Ava,
Woburn and
Waterloo were built. The new line was opened by
Coates, on 26 May 1927.
The Hutt Valley Branch was soon followed by the
Gracefield Branch
The Gracefield Branch is a 1.6 km long, gauge industrial line from its junction with the Wairarapa Line at Woburn in the Wellington region of New Zealand's North Island to its terminus at the southern end of the Hutt Workshops yard. Th ...
to the Railway Department's new
Hutt Workshops
The Hutt Railway Workshops is a major railway engineering facility in the Lower Hutt suburb of Gracefield in the Wellington region of New Zealand's North Island. It is state-owned enterprise KiwiRail's only workshops, and was opened in 1930.
...
on 1 April 1929.
In 1938, the Minister of Railways
Dan Sullivan Dan, Danny, or Daniel Sullivan may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Daniel J. Sullivan (born 1940), American film and theater director
* Daniel G. Sullivan, American screenwriter
* Dan Sullivan (musician), indie rock musician
* Dan Panic, Amer ...
said that the extension and duplication of the line from Waterloo to Silverstream or Upper Hutt had not yet been considered by Cabinet. Prime Minister
Savage
Savage may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Savage Glacier, Ellsworth Land
* Savage Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land
* Savage Ridge, Victoria Land
United States
* Savage, Maryland, an unincorporated community
* Savage, Minnesota, a city
* Savage, Mi ...
had referred in June to proposed railway improvements on other lines.
Extension and electrification
After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the Hutt Valley experienced significant population growth, especially with the establishment of
state housing
State housing is a system of public housing in New Zealand, offering low-cost rental housing to residents on low to moderate incomes. Some 69,000 state houses are managed by Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, most of which are owned by the ...
communities in
Naenae
Naenae (, occasionally spelled NaeNae) is a suburb of Lower Hutt. It lies on the eastern edge of the floodplain of the Hutt River, four kilometres from the Lower Hutt Central business district. A small tributary of the Hutt, the Waiwhetu Strea ...
and
Taitā (then known as Taita), and extension of the Hutt Valley Branch to serve those two neighbourhoods was approved. Already built to Waterloo as double track, the next section to Naenae opened on 7 January 1946 initially as single track. On 14 April 1947 the line to Taitā opened, and the section from Waterloo to Naenae double tracked. The section from Naenae to Taitā was duplicated on 22 February 1953. A proposal to extend the Taitā line to link up with the original Hutt Valley main line had been approved in February 1946, and in the early 1950s this was carried out. On 28 February 1954, the section of the old main line between
Melling and
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 ...
(now
Manor Park) closed, leaving the Lower Hutt to Melling section as the
Melling Branch
Melling may refer to:
Places
* Melling, Merseyside, an area of Sefton, Merseyside, England
* Melling, Lancashire, a village near Carnforth, Lancashire, England
* Melling, New Zealand
Melling is a suburb of Lower Hutt, to the north of Welling ...
. The following day, the new Taitā to Haywards section opened and the Hutt Valley Branch was incorporated into the Wairarapa Line. Initially single track, the section was duplicated on 19 July 1954.
Electrification had been approved in response to post-WWII coal shortages and was also implemented in the 1950s, with the first electrified section opened on 14 September 1953 from the North Island Main Trunk junction at Kaiwharawhara to Taitā. The old bridge over the Hutt River to Silverstream was found unsuitable for electrification and a deviation was built to the north over a new bridge. A direct line from Taitā to Silverstream through the Taitā Gorge with a tunnel had been proposed, eliminating the route across the river to Haywards and then back over at Silverstream, but the soil through the gorge was found unsuitable, and two bridges were built instead. Some of the original line replaced by the new route to Silverstream has been preserved by the
Silver Stream Railway
Silver Stream Railway is a heritage railway at Silverstream in the Hutt Valley near Wellington, New Zealand. It regularly operates preserved New Zealand Railways Department locomotives along a restored section of the Hutt Valley Line (part of ...
.
On 19 July 1954, the railway was duplicated to a point north of Haywards, and on 21 November a single track on the new Silverstream deviation was brought into use. Duplication from Haywards was completed to
Trentham on 26 June 1955. On 24 July the electrification was completed to Upper Hutt and
diesel-hauled suburban passenger trains north of Taitā ceased.
On 3 November 1955, the Rimutaka Incline was replaced by the Rimutaka Tunnel, speeding travel from the Hutt Valley to the Wairarapa. This involved re-routing the Wairarapa Line north of Upper Hutt. The Kaitoke route via
Kaitoke
Kaitoke (sometimes called Pakuratahi), part of Upper Hutt City, is a locality in the southern North Island of New Zealand. It is located at the northern end of the Hutt Valley, 45 kilometres northeast of Wellington City and six kilometres from th ...
and
Summit
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous.
The term (mountain top) is generally used ...
in the
Rimutaka Ranges
The Remutaka Range (spelled Rimutaka Range before 2017) is the southernmost range of a mountain chain in the lower North Island of New Zealand. The chain continues north into the Tararua, then Ruahine Ranges, running parallel with the east ...
at the western end of the incline was closed and replaced by a line through
Maymorn
Maymorn, a rural area of Upper Hutt city in the Wellington region of New Zealand, consists of Rural Hill and Rural Valley Floor zones. The New Zealand census treats Maymorn as part of Te Mārua for statistical purposes. The usual resident 20 ...
to the tunnel.
21st century
![Upper Hutt Signals 2021](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Upper_Hutt_Signals_2021.jpg)
In June 2013, the Hutt Valley line was cut on the evening of 20 June between Ngauranga and Petone by scouring beneath the line in several places during the
storm of 20–21 June. Hutt Valley and Wairarapa lines services between Petone and Wellington were replaced by buses. KiwiRail had to rail in more than 1400 cubic metres of fill.
Service was restored on the morning of 27 June.
Kaiwharawhara railway station
Kaiwharawhara railway station, a former railway station on the North Island Main Trunk and the Wairarapa Line in Wellington in New Zealand, closed in 2013. It was the first station north of Wellington railway station, Wellington, serving the e ...
was closed suddenly in June 2013 as it was discovered how badly corroded the
overbridge was. In November 2013, the
Greater Wellington Regional Council
Wellington Regional Council, branded as Greater Wellington Regional Council, is the regional council overseeing the Wellington Region of New Zealand's lower North Island. It is responsible for public transport under the brand Metlink, environ ...
(GWRC) voted to close it permanently as on health and safety grounds, it was too expensive and nearly impossible to upgrade the station to provide step free access via ramps for disabled passengers.
Work on double-tracking the Trentham to Upper Hutt section started in November 2019. Initially projected to take eighteen months and to cost $300 million, the upgrading was completed (after two years) in November 2021. WSork carried out included upgrades to the Trentham and Wallaceville stations (to which the GWRC contributed $3 million), and to the Upper Hutt station. The section from Upper Hutt south to Trentham was equipped for bi-directional signalling so that trains can run on either track in either direction, with provision to later extend the bi-directional signalling to Heretaunga. The upgrades are expected to improve the operation of both suburban passenger trains to Upper Hutt and of the
Wairarapa Connection
The Wairarapa Connection is a New Zealand interurban commuter rail service along the Wairarapa Line between Masterton, the largest town in the Wairarapa, and Wellington. It is operated by Wellington suburban operator Transdev (with KiwiRail sub ...
, with a longer loop at Upper Hutt to hold Wairarapa log trains. On 15 November 2021, the second track between Trentham and Upper Hutt came into service.
Operation
Seven traction substations along the line take electricity from
Wellington Electricity
Wellington Electricity, registered as Wellington Electricity Lines Limited, is an electricity distribution company, based in Wellington, New Zealand.
Wellington Electricity supplies electricity to approximately 400,000 consumers through over 1 ...
's 11,000-volt distribution network and transform and rectify it to 1500-volt direct current for the overhead traction lines. The substations are located at Wellington, Kaiwharawhara, Petone, Woburn, Pomare, Silverstream, and Upper Hutt. There is also some supply from the Lower Hutt traction sub-station on the Melling line. Also along the line are three "cross-tie" substations at Rocky Point, Epuni, and Heretaunga, which provide a switching function but don't have transformers or rectifiers.
Passenger services
C,
D, and
L class steam locomotives operated the original route in the 1870s and 1880s.
In 1905, D 137 was utilised in trials on the Hutt Valley Line of a "
railcar
A railcar (not to be confused with a railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach (carriage, car), with a drive ...
" service between Lower and Upper Hutt based on a concept the Railways Department's General Manager had witnessed in the eastern United States. This involved D 137 hauling a carriage that seated 24 first class passengers and 48 second class passengers, and had a guard's compartment. It proved uneconomic and grossly over-powered, and accordingly, it was soon taken out of service and the Railways Department pursued research into genuine railcars, culminating in various classes covered by the general
RM class designation.
On 11 December 1897, the Wairarapa Line was completed to its junction with the
Palmerston North–Gisborne Line
The Palmerston North–Gisborne Line (PNGL) is a secondary main line railway in the North Island of New Zealand. It branches from the North Island Main Trunk at Palmerston North and runs east through the Manawatū Gorge to Woodville, where i ...
at
Woodville, allowing the commencement of the
Napier Express from Wellington through the Hutt Valley and Wairarapa to
Napier in the
Hawkes Bay
Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...
. This provided the premier service on the Hutt Valley Line until early 1909, when it was re-routed via the west coast route that the Railways Department had recently acquired from 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 ...
. Its replacement was the
Wairarapa Mail
The ''Wairarapa Mail'' was a passenger train operated by the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) between Wellington and Woodville, continuing on to Palmerston North as a mixed train. It ran from 1909 until 1948 and its route included the famo ...
, an express train that ran the Napier Express's former Wellington-to-Woodville leg. Through the Hutt Valley, the express was typically hauled by
WW class tank locomotive
A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a tender-tank locom ...
s. In 1936, the
Wairarapa railcars started doing the Wairarapa runs, decreasing the frequency of the express and ultimately leading to its cancellation in 1948. No named provincial express has operated on the Wairarapa Line since this time.
In the 20th century, prior to electrification,
WAB and W
W class tank locomotives typically hauled suburban trains. Prior to full electrification, services beyond Taitā were hauled by
DE class diesel locomotives. Full electrification saw duties shared between
DM/D class "English Electric'' multiple units and carriage trains hauled by
ED and
EW class
electric locomotive
An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or gas ...
s, the latter class ordered for the Wellington electrified network when the Hutt Valley electrification project was approved. The EDs were withdrawn by 1980 and EWs by 1983.
In 1982-83, the
EM/ET "Ganz Mavag" multiple units were introduced, taking over most services, so that the
DM/D multiple units used on the line since 1953 were used only at peak times. The introduction of the
FP/FT "Matangi" class EMUs from 2011 provided extra passenger capacity, and enabled the remaining
DM/D class EMUs to be withdrawn in 2012.
From 2016, trains have been operated by
Transdev Wellington
Transdev Wellington is the operator of Wellington's Metlink rail network in New Zealand. The entity is a partnership of Transdev Australasia and Hyundai Rotem, who were awarded the contract to operate and maintain the commuter rail system in De ...
under the
Metlink brand; previously Metlink commuter services were operated by
Tranz Metro
Tranz Metro (formerly Cityrail and before that Cityline) was a New Zealand public transport operator. Beginning as the New Zealand Railways Corporation's Cityline division as a result of restructuring in the 1980s, in its final form Tranz Metr ...
.
Trains run frequently along the line with stops at 17 stations. Off-peak services run every 20 minutes during the day, Half Hourly on Saturday and Sundays and hourly during the early morning and late evening, stopping at all stations. At peak times, two services run along the line every 20 minutes: the first starting at
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#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropolitan area.
Geography
The Upper Hutt city cent ...
and stopping at all stations to
Taitā, then running express to
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 me ...
stopping only at
Waterloo; the second starting from Taitā and stopping at all stations to
Petone
Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one''), a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The Māori name means "end of the sand beach".
Europeans first settled in Pe ...
, then running express to Wellington (only
Melling Line
Melling may refer to:
Places
* Melling, Merseyside, an area of Sefton, Merseyside, England
* Melling, Lancashire, a village near Carnforth, Lancashire, England
* Melling, New Zealand, a suburb of Lower Hutt, New Zealand
** Melling Branch, a rai ...
trains serve
Ngauranga
Ngauranga is a suburb of New Zealand's capital city, Wellington, in the lower North Island. Situated on the western bank of Wellington Harbour, it lies to the north of the centre of the city. The name comes from the Māori language, Maori-langua ...
during peak times).
Kaiwharawhara
Kaiwharawhara is an urban seaside suburb of Wellington in New Zealand's North Island. It is located north of the centre of the city on the western shore of Wellington Harbour, where the Kaiwharawhara Stream reaches the sea from its headwaters ...
was closed suddenly in June 2013 as it was discovered how badly corroded the overbridge was. In November 2013, the GWRC voted to close it permanently as on health and safety grounds, it was too expensive and nearly impossible to upgrade the station to provide step free access via ramps for disabled passengers.
Metlink commuter trains running to and from
Masterton
Masterton ( mi, Whakaoriori), a large town in the Greater Wellington Region of New Zealand, operates as the seat of the Masterton District (a territorial authority or local-government district). It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a r ...
in the Wairarapa – the
Wairarapa Connection
The Wairarapa Connection is a New Zealand interurban commuter rail service along the Wairarapa Line between Masterton, the largest town in the Wairarapa, and Wellington. It is operated by Wellington suburban operator Transdev (with KiwiRail sub ...
– augment the Hutt Valley Line service. They operate several times daily, using
DFT class diesel locomotives and
SW and SE class carriages.
Freight services
From December 1897, until the acquisition of the WMR in December 1908, the Wairarapa Line was part of the Railways Department's primary route out of Wellington. Once the west coast route 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 ser ...
railway was available, all freight that could be diverted was sent via that line due to the costs and inefficiency of sending it over the Rimutaka Incline. Accordingly, the Wairarapa Line declined markedly as a freight route, though it became more desirable as a secondary route to the NIMT once the Incline was replaced by the
Rimutaka Tunnel
The Remutaka Tunnel (spelled Rimutaka Tunnel before 2017) is a railway tunnel through New Zealand's Remutaka Range, between Maymorn, near Upper Hutt, and Featherston, on the Wairarapa Line.
The tunnel, which was opened to traffic on 3 November ...
in 1955. Today, KiwiRail freight trains operate through the Hutt Valley between Wellington and
Waingawa, south of Masterton. Non-revenue services are also operated regularly to transfer equipment to and from the Hutt Workshops. Since the demise of the ED and EW class, all freight trains have been operated by diesel locomotives.
Double-tracking
In 2003, the
Greater Wellington Regional Council
Wellington Regional Council, branded as Greater Wellington Regional Council, is the regional council overseeing the Wellington Region of New Zealand's lower North Island. It is responsible for public transport under the brand Metlink, environ ...
proposed extending double-track from
Trentham to Upper Hutt and extending electrification north of Upper Hutt to
Timberlea and Cruickshank Road. The 20112012 Regional Rail Plan (RRP) proposed to start duplication work between Trentham and Upper Hutt in 2012. Double-tracking of the Trentham – Upper Hutt section was confirmed by GWRC in June 2014 with the adoption of the regional public transport plan.
In 2012, the Greater Wellington Regional Council decided to investigate extension of the electrification with Matangi trains north of Upper Hutt to a new station at Timberlea and north of Waikanae to Otaki (estimated cost $30 million for the Otaki project).
The 2013 Review and Draft 2014 Review of the Wellington Regional Public Transport Plan confirmed that a detailed analysis for a new station at Raumati (which was a "viability benchmark" for other new stations) showed that a new station there was not justified; that the modelled peak-hour patronage needed to be about 300 new passengers, and most Raumati users would have switched from Paraparaumu Station. Network extensions beyond the current Metlink rail operation limits would be by "shuttles or non-electrified services" running to Wellington.
Service improvements proposed in May 2017 included double-tracking the 2.7 km of line between Trentham and Upper Hutt; for which the GWRC was seeking government funding. Some traction poles on the Hutt Line required replacing "urgently". A power and signals failure in February 2018 was blamed on the power supply cable for signals dating from the 1950s (not actually from WWII). In December 2017, KiwiRail said that the proposed double-tracking from Trentham to Upper Hutt would delay proposals for a cycleway to Upper Hutt.
In 2018, KiwiRail announced that $49 million would be spent on upgrades and maintenance for the line, including double tracking the single line section from Trentham to Upper Hutt and replacing poles, overhead wires and signalling equipment. The work had started, and would be completed in 2021. The minister
Phil Twyford
Philip Stoner Twyford (born 4 May 1963) is a politician from New Zealand and a member of the Labour Party. He has been a Member of Parliament since 2008. He is the Labour Party MP for Te Atatū.
Early years
Twyford was born in 1963 in Auckland ...
announced on 9 October 2018 that the proposed $196 million for the region included $96 million for the Wairarapa Line; $50 million in the Wairarapa and $46.2 million south of the Rimutaka Tunnel including double-tracking the Trentham to Upper Hutt section. Work is to start in April 2019. Double tracking of the Trentham to Upper Hutt section ($46.2 million) will be completed in 2021, and track renewal and formation and drainage upgrades will be included. Resignalling of the Woburn Junction (2021; $2.08 million) will allow quicker access to the Gracefield Branch and Hutt Railway Workshops.
Work on double tracking the 2.5 km from Trentham to Upper Hutt was expected to take eighteen months; starting in October 2019 and finishing about March 2021. Hutt line traction plant work is to start in September 2019 and metro station construction work in March 2020.
Double-tracking from Trentham to Upper Hutt and other improvements at Trentham, Wallaceville and Upper Hutt stations were completed in November 2021.
['' The Dominion Post'' 15 November 2021 ]
Stations from Wellington to Upper Hutt
See also
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List of Wellington railway stations
This page lists all railway stations in Wellington, New Zealand that are or were on Wellington's suburban passenger rail network. Ownership of all station buildings except Wellington was transferred to Greater Wellington Regional Council on 1 Jul ...
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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 ...
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External links
Photo of train by harbour and signals c1928*
{{coord missing, New Zealand
Rail transport in Wellington
Public transport in the Wellington Region
Railway lines in New Zealand
Lower Hutt
Upper Hutt
Wellington City
Railway lines opened in 1874
Electric railways in New Zealand
3 ft 6 in gauge railways in New Zealand
Hutt Valley