Johnsonville Branch

The Johnsonville Branch 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. Tranz Metro, a division of KiwiRail, operates the trains under contract from the Greater Wellington Regional Council.

History

The line was built in the 1880s as part of the private Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company line to connect Wellington to Longburn. Construction started in 1879, and the first section, to Paremata, opened on 24 September 1885. The line became part of the North Island Main Trunk when the government bought the WMR in December 1908.

The line was used by railway workers from the Tarikaka Settlement in Ngaio, including early shift workers who needed to fire up steam locomotives at the Wellington depot.

Two experimental RM class railcars were briefly used on the line as NZR sought to develop economically viable railcar technology. The Westinghouse railcar was introduced in 1914 and served through to 1917. The Thomas Transmission railcar was introduced in 1916 and operated sporadically into the early 1920s. Both railcars struggled on the steep grades and revealed that further advances were needed to make railcars suitable to New Zealand's conditions.

The line became a branch when the Tawa Flat deviation of the NIMT opened to passengers in 1937, and was sometimes called The Hill (in NZR jargon). The line was electrified at 1500 V DC overhead supply, and the first passenger train using the new English Electric DM/D class electric multiple units ran on 2 July 1938. The units normal operate as two-car motor/trailer sets, four-car sets in peak hours. Additional DM/D class units were ordered for the line in 1942 and supplied in 1946.

The line was terminated in Johnsonville, about 100 m beyond the end of the current line: the State Highway 1 motorway on-ramp follows the route of the old line. Ngaio and Khandallah stations already had crossing loops, and a third crossing loop (without platform) at Wadestown plus new stations at Awarua Street and Simla Crescent were added.

Stations were added at Raroa (1940), Box Hill (1956) and Crofton Downs (1963). The line has four stations, Crofton Downs, Awarua Street, Box Hill, and Raroa on a curve.

The line was reviewed in 1984 and 1993 to consider either closing or upgrading it, without any significant changes being made.

Services

A half-hourly service runs daily, augmented to a 13/13/26 minute pattern at peak periods.

The line has been passenger-only since the termination of livestock trains for an abattoir in the Ngauranga Gorge. The livestock were originally driven on foot through Johnsonville streets, but after protests sidings near Raroa were opened on 2 February 1958. The livestock traffic ceased about 1973, though the sidings at Raroa were not lifted until about 1982. Because of the sharp curves on the line, EW class electric locomotives were used for livestock trains instead of the earlier ED class locomotives, which were hard on the track with their long rigid wheelbase.

Infrastructure

The line is single track through very steep terrain rising 150 m above sea level in its 10 km length, with the highest point (152 m) at the north end of No 6 tunnel. It has seven narrow tunnels, six bridges, three passing loops and three level crossings with half-barriers, (at the Fraser Avenue crossing barriers were installed in 2009). The ruling grade is 1 in 36. In 2001, an estimated 1,043 passengers use the line on a working day.^[1]

The Wellington City Council let a $1.7m tender to replace the Rangoon Street single-lane overbridge of c1906, which crosses the Johnsonville line, with a two-lane bridge.^[2][3] Work commenced in June 2008 and was completed by December 2008.^[4]

Future

The North Wellington Public Transport Study by GWRC and WCC considered four options for improved public transport: enhanced rail; bus on street; conversion to a guided busway; and conversion to light rail. On 16 November 2006 the GWRC Public Transport Committee^[5] and the WCC Strategy & Policy Committee^[6] accepted a "Do Minimum" option involving retention of the line and replacement of the current DM units with the same number of refurbished EM/ET class (Ganz Mavag) units^[7]; this required enlarging the tunnels and increasing platform clearances and lengths.^[8] GWRC have since had to change to using only the new Matangi units on this line because of the limited braking power of EM/ET class units on the steep grades ^[9]

The proposed redevelopment of the Johnsonville Town Centre should include improvements to the rail and bus terminal at Johnsonville, and it is proposed to widen the Broderick Road overbridge.

GWRC envisaged (2007) that the track through the tunnels would need to be lowered by 120 mm, depending on the new units ^[10]. Lengthening of passing loops and platforms may also be needed, and the likely cost is $5 million. A programme of preparatory work required to enable the tunnels to be upgraded commenced on 7 September 2008 and was completed in February 2009. Construction took place after 20:00 on Sunday - Thursday nights to minimise disruption to commuters, with services being replaced by buses.^[11] The tunnels were upgraded in January 2009^[12] during a period in which the line was closed to all traffic.^[13] The work included:

• lengthening the three crossing loops, allowing longer trains
• upgrading platforms by lengthening them and increasing clearances
• increasing clearances under two bridges: Lower a rail bridge in Ngaio Gorge (between tunnels) and the level of the track under the Raroa Station footbridge ^[14]

References

• Churchman, Geoffrey B. (1998) [1988]. The Story of The Wellington to Johnsonville Railway (2nd ed.). Wellington: IPL Books. ISBN 090887605X. 
• Hoy, D.G. Rails out of the Capital (NZRLS, 1970)

Footnotes

External links

• Johnsonville Line: Photos, Signalling
• Photo of one of the last main line trains to enter Johnsonville c1938 from The New Zealand Railways Magazine as republished by the NZETC
• Photo of arrival of the first unit at Johnsonville 1938 from The New Zealand Railways Magazine as republished by the NZETC
• Photo of Johnsonville units at Wellington station c1939 from The New Zealand Railways Magazine as republished by the NZETC
• Photo of multiple unit on the line c1940 from The New Zealand Railways Magazine as republished by the NZETC
• A flashlight photo of passengers inside a unit c1938 from The New Zealand Railways Magazine as republished by the NZETC
• Scene from a loco cab running downhill from Johnsonville c1930 from The New Zealand Railways Magazine as republished by the NZETC
• North Wellington Public Transport Study
• Railways of New Zealand: Wellington & Manawatu Railway
• Johnsonville Town Centre Plan
• Invitation to Opening (NZR Publicity picture)