Platforms Island (2) Parking No | Tracks Main line (4) Owner Wellington Region | |
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Location Westminster Street, Kaiwharawhara, Wellington, New Zealand Owned by Greater Wellington Regional Council Line(s) Melling Line
Hutt Valley Line
Kapiti Line Similar Ngauranga Railway Station, Dalefield Railway Station, Clareville Railway Station, Fernside Railway Station, Kopuaranga Railway Station | ||
Kaiwharawhara railway station was a railway station on the North Island Main Trunk and the Wairarapa Line in Wellington, New Zealand that closed in 2013. It was the first station north of Wellington, and prior to its closure it was 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.
Contents
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. The station was closed permanently on 21 November 2013 and the overbridge was dismantled in March 2014.
Kaiwharawhara had a unique platform arrangement for New Zealand. Looking north, the left-hand island platform was for up trains, the right-hand platform for down trains. The inner faces were used by Kapiti Line services on the NIMT, the outer faces by Melling Line and Hutt Valley Line services on the Wairarapa Line.
History
The Wairarapa Line reached the south bank of the Kaiwarra Stream in July 1873, and this section of line opened on 14 April 1874. Trains initially ran non-stop from Wellington, but on 20 April Kaiwarra opened as a stop.
Kaiwarra received its first building in late 1875. About 1879 the station received a class 6 passenger shelter costing £160. It did not have either crossing loops or sidings.
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. A new station building designed by George Troup was erected in 1911.
In the mid-1930s, in conjunction with the construction of the Tawa Flat Deviation and the opening of the new Wellington station on the 19 June 1937, and the closure of the old Thorndon and Lambton stations, new up and down mains were laid through Kaiwarra to the east of the existing Hutt Valley main lines for the Paekakariki Line (now the Kapiti Line). The Kaiwarra signal box was dismantled and the old railway station replaced with two new narrow island platforms with simple passenger shelters. The western platform was for the Hutt Valley line and the eastern platform for the Paekakariki line.
The station was renamed from Kaiwarra to Kaiwharawhara from 9 February 1951 by a decision of the New Zealand Geographic Board
The current configuration of railway tracks was adopted about 1965 when the down Hutt Valley Line track was moved from the west to the east of the Kapiti Line tracks. This was made possible by additional harbour reclamation during the construction of the Wellington Urban Motorway. The new layout reduced junction conflicts further south at Wellington Distant Junction near Aotea Key where the North Island Main Trunk and the Wairarapa Lines combined into a single up main and single down main. With the new layout, the western island platform was for up trains and the eastern platform for down trains.
With the rearrangement of the tracks, the old down main from Ngauranga to Kaiwharawhara became the up main and the old up main was connected to the shunt road from Distant Junction and the loop at Ngauranga. This gave a fifth track through Kaiwharawhara running on the western side of the four main lines, as evidenced today by the extra overhead wiring still in place, that was used to access an oil depot (just south of the Kaiwharawhara Stream), the NZR Signals Depot and several warehouses.
Until the closure of Kaiwharawhara station on 13 June 2013, there were small waiting sheds on each platform. 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 with were more frequent services during peak periods. From the opening of the Tawa Flat Deviation in 1937, trains on the Kapiti Line stopped on request only to pick up waiting passengers on the up platform or to drop off passengers on down trains.
Bus
The following Metlink bus services serve this station:
Facilities
There are no shelters or other buildings nor any dedicated car parking. Access was via a footbridge from Westminster Street. The overbridge was found to be seriously corroded in 2013 and the station was closed as a result. It was demolished in March 2014 with the stairs being relocated to Trentham station. The platforms will be retained for emergency egress from trains.