Hutt Valley Line
The Hutt Valley Line is the electrified train service operated by Transdev Wellington on behalf of Metlink on the section of the Wairarapa Line railway between Wellington and Upper Hutt, New Zealand.
History
Construction
The Hutt Valley line was the first railway out of Wellington, preceding the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company's west coast route, which was later acquired by the New Zealand Government Railways and incorporated into the North Island Main Trunk. The first proposal for a railway line from Wellington to the Rimutaka Range was put to the Wellington provincial government by Robert Stokes in 1858, and five years later the government gave support to the idea. In 1866, the government's investigating committee approved the line and the Wellington, Hutt Valley and Wairarapa Railway Ordinance was passed on 2 July 1866. It authorised a line to be built to either gauge of, or a narrow gauge of ; but sufficient funds could not be raised in England and the railway proposal was temporarily abandoned.In 1870, Premier Julius Vogel included a railway from Wellington to the Wairarapa in his "Great Public Works" policy, and while in London to raise funds for a number of projects in this policy, he was approached by contractors Brogden & Sons. They received a contract to survey and construct the first portion of the line, from Wellington to Lower Hutt, and construction began on 20 August 1872, with the first sod turned at Pipitea in Wellington. The railway took longer to construct due to the difficulties associated with stabilising the shoreline of Wellington Harbour. In July 1873, the railway reached Kaiwharawhara, followed by Ngauranga in early 1874 and Lower Hutt on 14 April 1874. Steam locomotives had now arrived to work the line and service began, with four trains daily each way.
Construction of the next section to Upper Hutt along the western bank of the Hutt River proceeded swiftly. On 11 May 1874, a contract was let to Charles McKirdy, and the line was opened to Silverstream in December 1875; this included a 272-metre bridge across the Hutt River just before Silverstream, and in other locations, thousands of bags of cement had to be used to stabilise the railway's route alongside the river. The line opened to Upper Hutt on 1 February 1876.
On 28 December 1877 the line to Kaitoke was officially opened by the Governor,. On 1 January 1878 the line to Kaitoke was opened to the public; Kaitoke becoming the railhead for the Wairarapa for nearly ten months.
The section into the Wairarapa opened on 12 August 1878 to Featherston. This section descended the Rimutaka ranges via the Rimutaka Incline.
The Pipitea Point railway station terminus in Wellington was destroyed by fire on 16 January 1878, but remained open. A permanent replacement further south on Featherston Street opened on 1 November 1880; it was moved northwards to near the intersection of Thorndon and Lambton Quays in 1885 and later became known as Lambton railway station. It was replaced by the present Wellington railway station on Bunny Street in 1937.
The route alongside the harbour from Wellington to Lower Hutt was straightened and duplicated. The work was approved in 1903 by the Hutt Railway and Road Improvement Act, and began in 1904. From Lower Hutt it was completed to Petone, Rocky Point, Paparangi Point, Ngauranga, Kaiwharawhara, and Wellington in 1911.
In the 1900s, a number of new stations and sidings were added: Trentham in 1907; Melling, Gosse and Co's siding, Pitcaithly's, Belmont Quarry Co's siding, Silverstream Bridge and Heretaunga in 1908.
Hutt Valley Branch
The original route was built along the western bank of the Hutt River and Wellington Harbour to provide a direct route from Wellington to the Wairarapa via Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt.Automatic single-line signalling was introduced in 1922; from Wellington to Lower Hutt on 27 March and from Lower Hutt to Upper Hutt on 25 September. On 25 May 1927 signalling and interlocking on the double track Hutt Valley Junction to Waterloo was introduced. Later a switch-lock trailing crossover named Halfway was installed between Ngahuranga and Petone at Rocky Point, to allow single-line working when the seaward side track was unusable because of southerly storms. But it was seldom used and was removed c1958 during track relaying. A single-person shelter was provided for the operator, and was still there in 1998.
In 1924, an extension of about 9 miles 34 chain as the Wellington-Napier Line was authorised by the Railways Authorisation Act, 1924.
In 1925, the Hutt Valley Lands Settlement Act contained a provision for a branch line railway from Petone to Waterloo., known as the Hutt Valley or Waterloo Branch. Initially, a single line was planned, but as a substantial 233-metre bridge with 17 piers over the Hutt River at Ava was needed, and as it was to be the future mainline as the Western Hutt route could not be duplicated north of Melling, the new line was double track. It was built by the Public Works Department, and work started in April 1925, before the first sod had been turned by the Prime Minister Gordon Coates on 16 April 1925. Construction was simple with minimal earthworks, although industrial troubles in Britain delayed delivery of steel girders, and the temporary structure was nearly washed away by a flood. Three new stations at Ava, Woburn and Waterloo were built. The new line was opened by Coates, on 26 May 1927.
The Hutt Valley Branch was soon followed by the Gracefield Branch to the Railway Department's new Hutt Workshops on 1 April 1929.
In 1938, the Minister of Railways Dan Sullivan said that the extension and duplication of the line from Waterloo to Silverstream or Upper Hutt had not yet been considered by Cabinet. Prime Minister Savage had referred in June to proposed railway improvements on other lines.
Extension and electrification
After World War II, the Hutt Valley experienced significant population growth, especially with the establishment of state housing communities in Naenae and Taitā, and extension of the Hutt Valley Branch to serve those two neighbourhoods was approved. Already built to Waterloo as double track, the next section to Naenae opened on 7 January 1946 initially as single track. On 14 April 1947 the line to Taitā opened, and the section from Waterloo to Naenae double tracked. The section from Naenae to Taitā was duplicated on 22 February 1953. A proposal to extend the Taitā line to link up with the original Hutt Valley main line had been approved in February 1946, and in the early 1950s this was carried out. On 28 February 1954, the section of the old main line between Melling and Haywards closed, leaving the Lower Hutt to Melling section as the Melling Branch. The following day, the new Taitā to Haywards section opened and the Hutt Valley Branch was incorporated into the Wairarapa Line. Initially single track, the section was duplicated on 19 July 1954.Electrification had been approved in response to post-WWII coal shortages and was also implemented in the 1950s, with the first electrified section opened on 14 September 1953 from the North Island Main Trunk junction at Kaiwharawhara to Taitā. The old bridge over the Hutt River to Silverstream was found unsuitable for electrification and a deviation was built to the north over a new bridge. A direct line from Taitā to Silverstream through the Taitā Gorge with a tunnel had been proposed, eliminating the route across the river to Haywards and then back over at Silverstream, but the soil through the gorge was found unsuitable, and two bridges were built instead. Some of the original line replaced by the new route to Silverstream has been preserved by the Silver Stream Railway.
On 19 July 1954, the railway was duplicated to a point north of Haywards, and on 21 November a single track on the new Silverstream deviation was brought into use. Duplication from Haywards was completed to Trentham on 26 June 1955. On 24 July the electrification was completed to Upper Hutt and diesel-hauled suburban passenger trains north of Taitā ceased.
On 3 November 1955, the Rimutaka Incline was replaced by the Rimutaka Tunnel, speeding travel from the Hutt Valley to the Wairarapa. This involved re-routing the Wairarapa Line north of Upper Hutt. The Kaitoke route via Kaitoke and Summit in the Rimutaka Ranges at the western end of the incline was closed and replaced by a line through Maymorn to the tunnel.
21st century
In June 2013, the Hutt Valley line was cut on the evening of 20 June between Ngauranga and Petone by scouring beneath the line in several places during the storm of 20–21 June. Hutt Valley and Wairarapa lines services between Petone and Wellington were replaced by buses. KiwiRail had to rail in more than 1400 cubic metres of fill.Service was restored on the morning of 27 June.
Kaiwharawhara railway station was closed suddenly in June 2013 as it was discovered how badly corroded the overbridge was. In November 2013, the Greater Wellington Regional Council voted to close it permanently as on health and safety grounds, it was too expensive and nearly impossible to upgrade the station to provide step free access via ramps for disabled passengers.
Work on double-tracking the Trentham to Upper Hutt section started in November 2019. Initially projected to take eighteen months and to cost $300 million, the upgrading was completed with the first trains running on 14 November 2021. Work carried out included upgrades to the Trentham and Wallaceville stations, and to the Upper Hutt station. The section from Upper Hutt south to Trentham was equipped for bi-directional signalling so that trains can run on either track in either direction, with provision to later extend the bi-directional signalling to Heretaunga. The upgrades are expected to improve the operation of both suburban passenger trains to Upper Hutt and of the Wairarapa Connection, with a longer loop at Upper Hutt to hold Wairarapa log trains. On 15 November 2021, the second track between Trentham and Upper Hutt came into service.
In 2023 work started on the Te Ara Tupua section between Petone and Ngāūranga which will provide a wide cycleway and pedestrian path as well as more protection for the road and rail links. Concern has been raised about the death of five kororā which came ashore to nest. The project includes a bridge over the southern end of the line.
In 2024, the Hutt City Council found that the 1928 Cuba Street road overbridge over the Hutt Line was earthquake prone as it was only 19% of the Ultimate Limit State. It was to be fixed at an estimated cost of $2.1 million. The line carries 570,000 commuters and 370.000 tonnes of freight annually.