Wairarapa Connection

The Wairarapa Connection is an interurban railway passenger commuter service in New Zealand, between Masterton in the Wairarapa and Wellington, on the Wairarapa Line. It is run by Wellington suburban operator Tranz Metro and is not considered to be a long-distance passenger service, unlike Tranz Scenic's similar Capital Connection between Wellington and Palmerston North.

History

Before the Wairarapa Connection, 88 seater railcars were used between Masterton and Wellington. They had replaced the steam-hauled mixed trains and Wairarapa class railcars in 1955, when the Rimutaka Tunnel opened and the line became the first fully dieselised line in New Zealand. Also before the Wairarapa Connection, the Wairarapa Mail carriage train ran between Wellington and Woodville until 1948.

In 1964, the demand between Masterton and Wellington was exceeding the capacity of the 88-seater railcars - the maximum capacity on each service was 176 with two railcars. The solution was to introduce a diesel-hauled carriage service.

Carriage History

In 1964 six NZR 56-foot carriages from the South Island were transferred north and fitted with Webasto kerosene-burning heaters for the service. They seated 336 on two-person bench-type Scarrett seats: class A passenger cars seated 56 and AL car-vans (with luggage compartment) seated 47.

In 1976 three more As and an AL were added, later joined by another A and AL, all thoroughly overhauled. They were fitted with fluorescent strip lighting similar to Northerner and Endeavour cars, and painted in a new, brighter shade of red, with white roofs as opposed to the standard silver oxide.

One AL was thoroughly refurbished with 46 seats to a design created by Addington Workshops staff for use on the Picton Express and West Coast Express, and was put on the service between Napier and Gisborne that connected with the Endeavour. The second AL followed, although it did not join the Gisborne expresses. In 1985, the third AL became part of a promotional New Zealand Police train, then a non-revenue vehicle and finally, in 1993, an air-conditioned 49-seat car for the North Island Main Trunk Northerner and Overlander. The last three cars, each with only one toilet and Scarrett seats for 59, joined the Gisborne-Napier service, but returned to the Masterton route following the redeployment of rolling stock in the wake of a Silver Fern railcar derailment in 1981 and the decision to run the Endeavour as a through service between Wellington and Gisborne, once daily each way simultaneously, in 1984.

Of the second six cars, the first AL also joined the Picton and Greymouth runs in 1982-83. In 1991 one car was thoroughly overhauled and refurbished with 50 Addington-built seats arranged in bays of four, alcove-style (like the cars on the re-introduced Southerner of 1988, but they had sheepskin wool seat covers) for the reinstated and revitalised Palmerston North Capital Connection long-distance commuter train. In 1992, one car was rebuilt into a 32-seat servery car, similar to the Southerner servery cars, including alcove seating but with seats of a much more recent design. The other three cars remained on the Wairarapa services.

In the early 1980s, with the refurbishment of the Picton and Greymouth services and the decision to utilise the former Endeavour carriages on new Gisborne-Wellington services, former 88-seater railcars, painted a distinctive green and nicknamed "Grass Grubs", were introduced to the Wairarapa service. These vehicles proved to be far superior in passenger comfort, so much so that seats from decommissioned 88-seaters were installed in the Silver Fern railcars.

However, the underframes were not designed to be towed in the long term and they deteriorated rapidly, bringing about their demise. The introduction of the EM class electric multiple units to the Wellington suburban system meant 11 NZR 56-foot carriages became available, and the cancellation of the unnamed daylight successor to the New Plymouth Night Express that ran between New Plymouth and Taumaranui freed more. A wooden 50-foot Z bogie box wagon was refitted with bogies that enabled it to run at passenger-train speed and was painted the same shade of bright red as the cars it accompanied. In the style of the new Fastrak and Northtrak express parcels logos that emphasised the new approach and priority of parcels traffic, the wagon had a logo known as Waitrak, hinting at its being dedicated to Wairarapa services.

In 1989, with the introduction of the Bay Express between Wellington and Napier, the three remaining Endeavour cars, of which two were ALs, became redundant, so the 54-seat A car and one 46-seat AL were assigned to Wairarapa services. With the streamlining of Greymouth expresses into one out-and-back operation, one Picton car became surplus to requirements and joined the Masterton fleet. In early 1991, the former 54-seat Endeavour car was rebuilt as a "big window" rear-view observation car for the TranzAlpine Express, the successor to the West Coast Express. In the same year, the former Picton/Greymouth car was refurbished similarly to Southerner cars with alcove seating, and the former Endeavour AL was refurbished with the same seating arrangement for the Capital Connection. Both cars retained their Addington-built seats, which had minor modifications made to them to increase comfort.

At the end of that year work had begun on rebuilding one car as the first air-conditioned "big window" rear-view observation car for the "new" Northerner/Overlander.

In 1993, after the successful re-introduction and rebranding of the Capital Connection service, a similar refurbishment and rebranding programme was initiated for the 16 Wairarapa carriages and, though only 12 were actually overhauled. This programme lasted four years, until 1997. Six A cars and three of four ALs were thoroughly overhauled and refurbished with a new-style seats, the same as those in the third NIMT servery car and the new air-conditioned "big window" trainsets being assembled at that time. These vehicles were fitted with cloth on the interior walls to reduce noise and were fully carpeted. A cars seated 59, as one toilet from each car was removed to increase seating capacity, while ALs seated 46. The other two A cars and the remaining AL were overhauled but retained their Scarrett seats, reupholstered with cloth material.

The overhauls saw the introduction of the new InterCity Rail blue livery, with a 220-mm white stripe and 100-mm green band inside it running the length of each car, with "Cityrail" emblazoned on both ends of each car. In 1995, as an interim measure leading up to the phasing in of the new all-over Cato blue livery of the new Tranz Rail corporate image, a light blue 350-mm full-length stripe was introduced, and a new name for Cityrail: Tranz Metro. From the beginning of the refurbishment of the seventh car, the new Cato blue livery was applied, along with the Tranz Metro logo.

Of the four unrefurbished cars, two were repainted and operated in the Capital Connection until that train was re-equipped with ex-British Rail Mark 2 stock.

One car, after being outshopped in early 1994 following its refurbishment, served on the Bay Express for a while. In 1995 two of the four ALs were equipped with generators similar to those installed in power-baggage vans utilised by long-distance passenger trains, making them power-luggage vans. In 2002 one car was refurbished for the Wairarapa but retained original seating, albeit reupholstered. In 2003 the other car was rebuilt and refurbished for use as a "small window" air-conditioned car for the NIMT passenger trains. A third car was stripped to the underframe but retained its compartment-dividing walls for profile purposes, while the fourth was scrapped.

From 1999 onward, due to age and related deterioration, gradual withdrawal from service of older carriages occurred, and cars from long-distance Tranz Scenic services were utilised on the interim. These included two former Auckland charter cars that were refurbished in 1993, which later became "no frills" NIMT passenger cars offering cheaper accommodation, later fitted with air-conditioning. These two cars were then permanently allocated to the Wairarapa runs.

From 1995 until 2001 two former Bay Express cars operated on the Masterton line irregularly.

A former 1988 Southerner car turned NIMT no-frills car, later fitted with air-conditioning, was then permanently allocated to the Wairarapa runs. The sole remaining former single-lavatory first-class car, which served in the 1970 Southerner, 1988 Northerner and, as a "Backpackers" car, the TranzCoastal Express in 1996, was also working this service in 2003. While on the TranzCoastal it was fitted with air-conditioning. This is not the first time this carriage has worked the Wairarapa services: in 1995, while assigned to the NIMT and sporting the InterCity blue with white stripe and green band, it assumed Wairarapa duties for a time with the first car-van to receive a generator.

A former Southerner, Northerner and Lynx Express carriage also ran on Wairarapa Connection services in 2006.

In 2006 Hillside Engineering won the contract from the Greater Wellington Regional Council to rebuild 18 former British Rail Mark 2D to Mark 2F 20-metre carriages, to replace the existing fleet. The new cars are classified SW for cars with passenger saloon only, SWS with servery and SWG with luggage compartment and generator for power supply. The S stands for "Scenic Series" and "W" for "Wairarapa", to distinguish them from their Capital Connection counterparts, classified S.

On 11 May 2007 the first four cars entered service, with three more introduced on 18 June 2007 making up a 7-car consist. The remaining 11 cars entered service incrementally by the end of 2007.

The inaugural run of the first four cars was on 14 May 2007, being met by the Minister of Transport, Annette King, on arrival on Platform 9 Wellington Railway Station at 9.20am. The service departed Masterton at 7.30am, and called at Carterton at 7.48am, Featherston at 8.09am and Upper Hutt at 8.32am

The first run in service was on Thursday 18 May on train 1602, departing Wellington at 8.25am

In early 2007 the longest Wairarapa Connection consist (seven cars and van), which formed the weekdays 6.30am from Masterton and 4.33pm from Wellington, had five cars replaced by ones from the now-disbanded charter fleet so that their Korean bogies can be overhauled and placed under five of the new SW cars. The charter cars run on old NZR Timken bogies limited to 80 km/h, not the 100 km/h standard carriage train speed.

In September 2007 the eight A and three AL ex Wairarapa Connection cars that had been sent to Dunedin for bogie removal and storage were sold to the Taieri Gorge Railway, which is refitting them with Timkin bogies reclaimed from their own cars.

Rolling stock

The Wairarapa Connection is the only diesel-hauled service operated by Tranz Metro - all other services utilise electric trains. The service is hauled by diesel-electric locomotives from KiwiRail's fleet. Three locomotives are allocated weekly to the Wairarapa Line, operating the Wairarapa Connection and Masterton-Wellington freight services. The locomotives are usually of the NZR DC class, although DBR class, DFT Class, and DX class locomotives are also used. DA class locomotives were used in the past.

Carriages used on the Wairarapa Connection services are of the SW class, rebuilt British Rail Mark 2 carriages introduced in 2007 to replace the previous NZR 56-foot carriages that were used since the service's introduction, some of which were 70 years old. Eighteen carriages are used on the service - twelve SW class with 64 seats each, three SWS class with 37 seats and a servery each, and three SWG carriages with 37 seats, luggage compartment and generator. The carriages are formed into three sets, consisting of (from Masterton end of train) an SWG, an SW, an SWS, and then between one and four SW carriages.

With the withdrawal from commuter service of the EO locomotives the six SE class carriages that these units hauled may be used to expand the Wairarapa fleet.

Services

There are five services each way between Masterton and Wellington Monday to Friday. Three of the services each way operate during peak times, to Wellington in the morning and to Masterton in the evening. The remaining two services each way operate inter-peak. An sixth service each way operates late Friday night. On weekends and public holidays, two services operate each way, one in the morning and one in the evening.

The train numbers for the Wairarapa Connection are as follows:

Accidents

The Wairarapa Connection has been involved in several accidents is its time. Most of the accidents have occurred at level crossings, where vehicles have ignored warning signals and have been hit by the train. There are 28 public level crossings between the Rimutaka tunnel and Masterton Station, of which three are controlled by alarms and barrier arms, 19 by alarms only, and six by signs only.

On Thursday 23 July 2009, the 5:33pm service to Masterton hit a mudslide blocking the line just north of the Maoribank tunnel near Maymorn. The lead locomotive, DCP 4818, and the first carriage, SWG 3422, derailed. No major injuries were reported, but the slip and the derailed rolling stock blocked the line, preventing services operating until Sunday evening.^[3][4] The first service through the derailment worksite was Sunday service No1616 to Masterton led by DBR 1200 and DBR 1267.

See also

• Tranz Scenic
• Wellington Railway Station
• Tranz Metro
• Wairarapa Line

References

External links

• A photo of a Wairarapa railcar approaching Wellington, alongside Wellington Harbour c1938
• "Inaugural train journey marks arrival of first new Wairarapa carriages in 60 years" (Press release). Greater Wellington Regional Council. 2007-05-11. http://www.gw.govt.nz/story22171.cfm?. Retrieved 2007-06-20. 
• "More new carriages introduced on Wairarapa line" (Press release). Greater Wellington Regional Council. 2007-06-14. http://www.gw.govt.nz/story22761.cfm?. Retrieved 2007-06-20.