| Wellington Metlink regional rail |
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Wellington Railway Station Frontage at night |
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| Station statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Address | Bunny Street, Wellington | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lines | North Island Main Trunk Wairarapa Line Johnsonville Line |
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| Connections | Services | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Structure | At-grade terminal station | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Platforms | 9 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Parking | Yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Baggage check | Yes (Tranz Scenic services only) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 19/06/1937 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Electrified | 1938 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Accessible | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owned by | ONTRACK | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fare zone | 1[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Services | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Designated: | 25-Sep-1986 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reference #: | 1452 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wellington Railway Station is the southern terminus of New Zealand's North Island Main Trunk railway, Wairarapa Line and Johnsonville Line. In terms of number of services and in passenger numbers, it is New Zealand's busiest railway station.
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Wellington's first station, Pipitea Station was built in 1874 as part of the city's first railway line, to the Hutt Valley, which opened that year. This station building burned down in 1878 and was replaced in 1880 by the Lambton, built by New Zealand Government Railways to service the Wairarapa line.
Six years later a second station called the Thorndon was built by the privately owned Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company to serve Wellington-Manawatu line. This company was purchased by the New Zealand government in 1908 so that it could incorporate its lines into what became the North Island Main Trunk via Johnsonville.
Once both stations were in government control public pressure began to build for a single terminal. The government eventually decided on a co-ordinated development that included not only a new station building, but also after agreement was reached in 1922 between the Railways Department and the Wellington Harbour Board, the reclamation of about 68 acres (28 hectares) which would incorporate a new double track railway, train marshalling areas, goods yards and sheds. This reclamation from the sea at Thorndon began in 1923 and was on track to be completed by 1932, which allowed the government in 1929 to confirm that Bunny Street would be the location of a single new station which would remove the existing inconvenience of separate stations for the two routes out of Wellington: Lambton, built by New Zealand Government Railways to serve the Wairarapa line; and Thorndon, built by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company to serve what became the North Island Main Trunk via Johnsonville.
Without going through the process of a design completion W. Gray Young who was known for his neo-Georgian styles, of Wellington based architects Gray Young, Morton & Young was selected in 1929 to design the new staton over the Auckland based firm of Gummer & Ford, who had designed the Auckland Railway Station. Gray Young, Morton and Young had formed in 1923 and consisted of William Gray Young, Hubert Morton and Gray Young's brother Jack. The firm had recently finished large commissions for Victoria University, designing Stout (1930) and Weir House (1930) and would later go on to design the Kirk Building (1938).
The need to review building techniques after the Napier earthquake and the impact of the Depression on finances delayed the government formally committing to the project until June 1933.
As the planned location of the station was on land which had been reclaimed, test piles were driven in 1928 to test the quality of soil. On the basis of the test results the decision was made to use Vibro cast in place piles to support the structure. The building was the first major New Zealand structure to incorporate a significant measure of earthquake resistance.
Gray Young was paid a 4 percent fee based on the originally estimated cost of £470,000. This cost then rose to £483,000 once the quantity surveying firm of Maltby & Sommerville, complied a detailed quantity schedule for which they were paid 1 percent of the estimated cost. Because of the impact of the Depression on Government finances it was decided to reduce the cost by eliminating a mailroom and a section of the West wing along Featherston Street and by transferring the £28,000 cost of the rail platforms and their verandahs to a separate budget. As a result the official estimated cost of the station was reduced to £350,000.[2] To encourage employment of workers out of work due to the Depression the project received a subsidy of £34,000 (10 per percent of the estimated cost) from the Employment Board.
The building is a U-shaped structure with the longest leg and 105.5 metres [346 feet] long and 23.5 metres [77 feet] high. Because of delays in importing the specialized boring equipment needed to install the cast in place piles called for in the original design, the decision was made to use 1615 15 x 15 inch and 16 x 16 inch reinforced concrete piles to support the structure. These were driven by a steam-powered hammer. On top of the piles a 5 and 6 storey steel framed structure was built. The steel was encased in reinforced concrete and 1.75 million bricks. 21,000 cubic yards of aggregate from the Hutt River together with cement from Whangarei were mixed on site to create the concrete. The bricks used for the outer cladding were of a special design, with slots to accommodate vertical corrosion–resistant steel rods which reinforced the brickwork and bound it to the structural members. 1500 tons of decorative Hanmer and Whangarei granite and marble were used to clad the interior and the entranceway. 2500 gallons of paint were used. The roof was clad in Marseille tiles.
The main entrance was on the south side and was via a colonnade of eight, 13 metre [42 foot] high Doric columns which opened into a large booking hall decorated with delicately mottled dados that extended to a high, vaulted ceiling.
The glazed roof concourse contained waiting rooms and restrooms, a large dining room, a barbershop, book and fruit stalls and a first aid room. There was also a nursery on the top floor to allow parents to leave their children while they shopped or waited for their train.
When completed the station was New Zealand’s largest building, partly because covering 0.6 hectares, and with a combined floor area of two hectares as it was designed to accommodate the 675 staff of the railways department head office and the Wellington district office, who until then had been accommodated in 11 leased buildings throughout the city.[3]
The railway platforms each of which was designed to accommodate up to 12 carriages are made up of concrete, covered with a sealed surface under a verandas held up by railway irons.
A park was created opposite the main entrance with lawns and paths of paving stones with brick edging arranged in a herringbone pattern.
The construction tender closed on 25 September 1933, which was extended by 2 weeks in an attempt to encourage local manufacturers to offer locally manufactured materials. 12 tenders were received with Fletcher Building the lowest at £339,000. The next lowest tender was £350,000 received from J T Julian & Son who had constructed a significant part of the Auckland Railway Station.[4]
Fletchers was awarded what was believed to be the largest single building contract let in New Zealand up to that time to which a performance bond of £3000 was applied.
Fletchers appointed 26 year old Joe Craig to manage what was his first major project. His prior experience had been on the construction of Chateau Tongariro, Massey College and earthquake reconstruction in Hastings. Craig’s management skills, supported by a large team of experienced foremen and a close working relationship with the architect ensured that construction progress very smoothly on a project which proved very profitable for Fletchers.[5]
Work commenced on site on January 1934 with a workforce of 12 which built up to construction force of 161 in January 1936. Fletchers reduced the cost of the construction steel to £70,000 from an estimated £85,000 by directly importing it (rather than purchasing it from local steel merchants) and then had it fabricated on site by Wm Cable Ltd.[6]
Progress was rapid with 1500 of the piles driven by the time the foundations stone was laid on 17th December 1934 by the Duke of Gloucester, an occasion witnessed by an estimated 5000 people.[7]
The contract was expanded to include the construction of an electric substation (commenced 1936) at a cost of £2022 and a locomotive maintenance workshop (commenced 1936) was along the Thorndon Quay side of the railway yard. This cost £37,406 and is still in use. [8]
In August 1938 to accommodate increasing staff numbers work commenced on the construction of the section of the Featherston Street Wing removed from the original design to reduce its cost. This was undertaken as a separate project at a cost of £59,662.
A two storey brick building with a mansard roof, containing a social hall and a garage was built in 1937 facing onto Waterloo Quay to the north of the East wing, at a cost of £15,000. The garage was on the ground floor with the social hall occupying part of the ground floor and the entire first storey. The garage also incorporated rooms for the chauffeur to Railways Departments General Manager.
The station was opened on 19th June 1937 by the Governor General of New Zealand, Viscount Galway.
Once it was ready for service the Lambton was closed on 19 June 1937 and the Thorndon on 8 June 1937.
Due to the reduction of railway staff numbers in the 1980’s large parts of the building became under utilized. In 1982 in response to competition from road and air transport the New Zealand Railways Corporation replaced the Railways Department. The application of a more commercial attitude to the running of the organization resulted in a large reduction in staff employed at the Wellington Railway Station
In 1988 the railway’s run bookstall and cafeteria were closed with subsequently the barber's shop and men's toilets being converted into 'Trax Bar and Cafe' while the women’s waiting rooms were converted into toilet blocks. The original dining hall and kitchen were converted to provide more office space. At about this time platforms 2 to 7 were shortened at the concourse end to provide increased space for waiting passengers. Large concrete planter boxes were installed at the end of the tracks to assist in stopping runaway trains.
As part of the creation of the Westpac Trust Stadium (completed November 1999) on surplus railway land to the north of the station an elevated walkway from Thorndon Quay to the main stadium concourse was installed with access to the walkway provided via ramps from station platforms 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. To facilitate this work the canopies of platforms 7, 8 and 9 were shortened to the same length as platforms 3, 4, 5 and 6.[9]
In 1991 as a result of a major restructuring of the structure of the New Zealand Railways, ownership of the land and buildings was retained by the Railways Corporation while a new organization known as New Zealand Rail Ltd. took over rail operations including freight distribution, commuter and long-distance passenger services, as well as the Interisland Ferry. Both organizations retained offices in the Wellington Railway Station Building. In 1993, New Zealand Rail was sold to a private business consortium, which became Tranz Rail Holdings Limited. Though in 2000 its moved to its head office to Auckland, Tranz Rail retained space in the main station building from which to run the local suburban network. Operational management of the entire national railway network remained in Wellington. In 2004 Tranz Rail was sold to Toll NZ Ltd, who then sold the track and infrastructure back to the Railways Corporation (now known as ONTRACK).[10]
Between August 2003 and October 2008 the main station building was refurbished at a cost of NZ$14.6 million to house part of Victoria University in the West wing and Toll NZ (now known as Kiwi Rail) in the East wing. This work included a seismic upgrade, restoration and refurbishment and installing three new lifts and a dedicated access (in the south west corner) to the university wing from the concourse. The architect was Athfield Architects with construction undertaken by Fletcher Construction. As part of this reorganization of the building the 24-hour-a-day train control centre was relocated from the western wing to the eastern side of the southern part of the building.
On 4 December 2006 the New World Railway Metro supermarket opened on the ground floor. This coincided with the closure of the Railway Kiosk and the American Hotdog vendor.
In 2010 the former social hall was converted into 660 square metres of boutique office space.
The station was registered on 25th September1986 as a Category I Historic Place.[11]
The station was used in a 2009 TV advert in the United Kingdom for a train ticketing company, TheTrainLine, where a large flock of sheep use the station facilities.[12]
It was originally built to accommodate the head office of the New Zealand Railways Department and is the head office of its successor, the KiwiRail, which occupies the east wing, Victoria University of Wellington the west wing.
The New World Railway Metro supermarket occupies part of the ground floor.
The station copes with large daily passenger numbers with very little alteration having proved necessary. In its first year, 7,600 passengers made 15,200 trips on 140 trains daily. In the 1960s it was estimated that over 42,000 people used the station each day. Today, 22,000 passengers make 44,000 trips on 390 trains, excluding long-distance services.
The following services use the station;
The following bus services use the station's platform 9;
The bus terminal, formerly called Lambton Interchange, is served by most Wellington bus routes and is connected to Wellington Station by a subway under Featherston St.
The following bus routes serve the bus terminal;
Media related to Wellington Railway Station at Wikimedia Commons
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