Kaiwharawhara Railway Station
| Kaiwharawhara Metlink regional rail | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Station statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Address | Westminster Street, Wellington, New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 41°15′36.18″S 174°47′28.92″E / 41.2600500°S 174.7913667°E | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line(s) |
Melling Line Hutt Valley Line Kapiti Line | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Platforms | Island (2) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tracks | Main line (4) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Parking | No | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bicycle facilities | No | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Baggage check | No | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 1874-04-20 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rebuilt | 1911, 1935 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Electrified | June 1940 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owned by | Greater Wellington Regional Council | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fare zone | 2[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Formerly | Kaiwarra | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Services | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Kaiwharawhara railway station is a dual island platform railway station on the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) and the Wairarapa Line in Wellington, New Zealand.[2] It is the first station north of Wellington, and is served by trains operated by Tranz Metro as part of the Metlink network on the Melling Line, the Hutt Valley Line and the Kapiti Line. Three diesel-hauled carriage trains, the Wairarapa Connection, Capital Connection and Northern Explorer services pass through the station but do not stop.
The Kaiwharawhara Station was temporarily closed on 13 June 2013, because of safety concerns about the pedestrian overbridge, which was found by visual inspection carried out by the Regional Council to have advanced corrosion.[3] The station was closed permanently on 21 November 2013.[4]
Kaiwharawhara has a unique platform arrangement for New Zealand.[5] Looking north, the left-hand island platform is for up trains, the right-hand for down trains. The inner faces are used by Kapiti Line services on the NIMT, the outer faces by Melling Line and Hutt Valley Line services on the Wairarapa Line. Just north of the station the NIMT climbs an embankment towards the bridge that takes it across the up Wairarapa Line track and Hutt Road to Tawa No. 1 Tunnel.
History
The Wairarapa Line reached the south bank of the Kaiwarra Stream in July 1873,[6] and this section of line opened on 14 April 1874.[7] Trains initially ran non-stop from Wellington, but on 20 April Kaiwarra opened as a stop.[8]
Kaiwarra received its first building in late 1875.[8] About 1879 the station received a class 6 passenger shelter costing £160. It did not have either crossing loops or sidings.[9]
Early in the 20th century it was decided to duplicate the line between Wellington and Lower Hutt. Preparatory work was started in 1903 with construction commencing the following year, reaching Kaiwarra in 1909 and Wellington on 4 April 1911.[10] A new station building designed by George Troup was erected in 1911.
In preparation for the construction of the new Wellington station in the mid-1930s and the closure of the old Thorndon and Lambton stations, new lines were laid through Kaiwarra and Kaiwarra signal box was dismantled.[11]
The station was renamed from Kaiwarra to Kaiwharawhara from 9 February 1951 by a decision of the New Zealand Geographic Board [12]
In 1968 there was a fifth track running along the western side of the station, as evidenced today by the extra overhead wiring still in place, used to access an oil depot (just south of the Kaiwharawhara Stream), the NZR Signals Depot and several warehouses.[13] There were small waiting sheds on each platform.[14] All have been removed.
Services
Off-peak trains stopped here half-hourly on the Hutt Valley and Kapiti Lines, and hourly on the Melling Line.
Bus
The following Metlink bus services serve this station:
| Previous Stop | Metlink Bus Services | Next Stop |
|---|---|---|
| Hutt Road towards Khandallah |
44 Khandallah - Strathmore |
Hutt Road towards Strathmore |
| Hutt Road towards Broadmeadows |
46 Broadmeadows |
Hutt Road towards Courtenay Place |
| Hutt Road towards Johnsonville |
52 Johnsonville via Newlands | |
| 53 Johnsonville West | ||
| Hutt Road towards Churton Park |
54 Churton Park | |
| Hutt Road towards Grenada Village |
55 Grenada Village via Johnsonville | |
| Hutt Road towards Johnsonville |
56 Johnsonville via Newlands | |
| Hutt Road towards Woodridge |
57 Woodridge | |
| Hutt Road towards Baylands |
58 Baylands via Newlands | |
| Hutt Road towards Eastbourne |
83 Eastbourne via Lower Hutt | |
| Hutt Road towards Porirua |
211 Porirua |
Facilities
There are no shelters or other buildings nor any dedicated car parking. Access is via a footbridge from Westminster Street. The overbridge was found to be seriously corroded in 2013 and the station was closed as a result.
Footnotes
- ↑ Metlink. "Text description of fare zone boundaries". Greater Wellington Regional Council. Retrieved 2007-11-27.
- ↑ "Notice of final decision to assign place names". New Zealand Gazette - Te Kahiti o Aotearoa. New Zealand Gazette Office at the Department of Internal Affairs. 1996-08-29. p. 2470. Retrieved 2008-01-05. "6. North Island Main Trunk From Wellington to Auckland ... 28. Wairarapa Line From Wellington to Woodville ..."
- ↑ "Kaiwharawhara Station Closed". Metlink. 13 June 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
- ↑ "Station closes for good". stuff.co.nz. 21 November 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
- ↑ Hoy, Douglas G. (1970). "The Railway Today". Rails Out Of The Capital: Suburban Railways, Wellington. Wellington: The New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society. p. 77. "The station with its two long island platforms and four parallel running tracks is the only one of its kind in the Dominion."
- ↑ Cameron, Water Norman (1976). "Chapter 4: Construction and Operation, Wellington to Upper Hutt". A Line Of Railway: The Railway Conquest of the Rimutakas. Wellington: New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society. p. 73. ISBN 0-908573-00-6. "It was not until July 1873 that the rails reached the south bank of the Kaiwarra Stream, ..."
- ↑ "Chapter 4: Construction and Operation, Wellington to Upper Hutt". A Line Of Railway: The Railway Conquest of the Rimutakas. p. 77. "The Hutt Railway was opened this morning ... Thus did the Evening Post of 14 April 1874 record the opening of the railway ..."
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Early Years". Rails Out Of The Capital: Suburban Railways, Wellington. p. 13. "Kaiwharawhara and Ngauranga became stopping places on April 20th 1874, but the first buildings were not erected until later in the following year."
- ↑ "Chapter 4: Construction and Operation, Wellington to Upper Hutt". A Line Of Railway: The Railway Conquest of the Rimutakas. p. 89. "At this time Kaiwarra and Ngahauranga both received sixth-class stations, costing ₤160 each. Neither station had crossing loops or sidings as yet."
- ↑ "Chapter 13: Branch Lines and Sidings". A Line Of Railway: The Railway Conquest of the Rimutakas. pp. 291, 293. "Surveys and preparatory work were carried out in 1903 and in the following year work began at Lower Hutt and Petone ... The duplication reached Ngahauranga in 1908, Kaiwarra in 1909, and finally Wellington in 1911. The entire double line from Lower Hutt to Lambton was opened on 4 April 1911 ..."
- ↑ "Chapter 10: The Stations". A Line Of Railway: The Railway Conquest of the Rimutakas. pp. 223, 225. "New main lines were laid and connected at Kaiwarra. ... The Hutt Valley main lines had been completely relocated and the Kaiwarra signal box dismantled. All new signalling equipment and underground cabling were being installed, and the overhead wiring for electrification of the Johnsonville line was being erected."
- ↑ New Zealand Railway Observer volume 18, January–February 1951 page 17
- ↑ "Appendix D: Diagrams". Rails Out Of The Capital: Suburban Railways, Wellington. p. 107.
- ↑ "The Railways Today". Rails Out Of The Capital: Suburban Railways, Wellington. p. 77. "A foot bridge leads in from the street and two small waiting sheds are the only facilities available."
External links
- Train timetables from Metlink and Tranz Metro.
- Julie Bremner, Wellington’s Northern Suburbs 1919-1945 (Wellington: Millwood Press, 1987) ISBN 0-908582-80-3, see 1934 photo of gang moving rails next to Kaiwarra Station on page 63.