| Kenepuru Metlink suburban rail |
||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kenepuru in December 2008 |
||||||||||||||||
| Station statistics | ||||||||||||||||
| Lines | North Island Main Trunk | |||||||||||||||
| Platforms | Dual side | |||||||||||||||
| Tracks | Main line (2) | |||||||||||||||
| Parking | No | |||||||||||||||
| Baggage check | No | |||||||||||||||
| Other information | ||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 28 April 1963 | |||||||||||||||
| Owned by | KiwiRail (platforms and track); Greater Wellington Regional Council (shelters and footbridge) | |||||||||||||||
| Services | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
Kenepuru Railway Station is on the North Island Main Trunk Railway (NIMT) in New Zealand, on Wellington's suburban rail network. It is double tracked, has a side platform layout on a curved section of the line, and is 16.16 km from Wellington Railway Station, the southern terminus of the NIMT. It is within walking distance of Kenepuru Hospital.
Kenepuru is served by Metlink Kapiti Line commuter trains operated by Tranz Metro. Trains run every 30 minutes off-peak, and more frequently during peak periods. Some peak services run express between Porirua and Wellington and do not stop at Kenepuru.[1]
The commuter trains are operated by electric multiple units. These were formerly DM/D class units but are now almost always units of the EM/ET class. Two diesel-hauled carriage trains, the Capital Connection and the Overlander, pass through the station but do not stop.
Kenepuru was under consideration for closure by the Greater Wellington Regional Council as it was claimed that it had low usage and requireed considerable expenditure for upgrading for the new Matangi units, and for safety reasons.[2] However, it was announced on 5 October 2011 that is was safe for now and minor remedial work would be done to extend its life for 10 more years.[3]
The line through Kenepuru was built by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR). The line to Longburn was completed in 1886 and trains were operated by the WMR until December 1908, when the New Zealand Railways Department purchased the WMR and incorporated its line into the NIMT.
On 19 June 1937 the Tawa Flat deviation was opened to the south of Kenepuru. It eliminated the circuitous route via Johnsonville into Wellington. On June 1940, the line through the future site of Kenepuru station was electrified, and on 15 December 1957 it was double tracked.[4]