Wellington commuter trains are back up and running following three weeks of intensive work on the lines.
KiwiRail has made the most of the summer break to replace track, repair bridges, strengthen tunnels, and upgrade several level crossings across the region. It was all hands to the pump to get the work complete ahead of trains coming back into service by Monday 12 January.
Projects included Ava Bridge in Lower Hutt, which has fresh rails and sleepers now in place and will soon be ready for Hutt City Council to begin work on the walkway.
The Otaihanga level crossing in Kāpiti has been upgraded and is now a smoother ride for motorists with its long-lasting concrete base, and earthworks have begun at Naenae and Trentham ready for the arrival of two new substations later this year. As well as the big projects, KiwiRail has carried out important maintenance including replacing track and ballast across large sections of the network. Work also continues on the Wairarapa Line level crossing upgrade with Bell Street in South Wairarapa and Norfolk Road at Waingawa the current focus for the team.
KiwiRail and Greater Wellington thank commuters and residents for their patience.
“We appreciate it’s inconvenient having to catch a bus instead of a train, and while everyone does their best, there is no avoiding some degree of noise and disruption for people living close to where the work is happening.
“Every section of line we renew improves the long-term resilience and reliability of the network. It’s a big part of getting the Wellington Metro ready for increasing services and the new trains destined for Wairarapa and Manawatū from 2029,” says General Manager Wellington Metro, Andy Lyon.
Metlink acknowledges there were issues with commuter bus replacement services as people returned to work last Monday. Metlink Acting General Manager Paul Tawharu says bus replacement services are a “constant area for improvement”.
“A rail network always requires maintenance, especially here in Wellington where KiwiRail is having to make up for decades of underinvestment while planning for the future,” says Tawharu.
“Where there’s a train there has to be multiple bus replacements to keep the network moving during critical rail upgrades. This summer we trialled new real-time tracking for bus replacements, and quickly learned where issues with coordinating timings and connections were happening. As soon as we detect issues we quickly work with our rail operator Transdev to understand what went wrong and what needs to be done to fix it – we thank our passengers for their patience and understanding.”