New Zealand’s capital city Wellington is home to a fascinating and attractive suburban railway network, which has an interesting history and provides amazingly good coverage, for what is actually a rather small city. The 1067mm (3’6″) gauge system consists of four electrified lines (1500v DC), as well as some longer distance diesel hauled commuter routes. In this video I talk about some of the interesting features of the network, as well as pointing out some of the scenic highlights. This video is illustrated by my own photos taken on visits in 2010 and 2015, and also features three pictures by Alexander Jamieson (aka @melbournesparks3828 ) who took the shot of the red English Electric set at 06:57, the EE interior at 10:27 and the tram shot (Wellington No.257 at MOTAT) at 10:55.
Chapters:
00:00 – Intro (Wellington is small)
02:42 – The Kapiti Line
04:40 – The Hutt Valley Line
05:01 – The Wairarapa Line
05:37 – The Johnsonville Line
06:12 – The Melling Line
06:47 – The Trains!
09:30 – Creative rollingstock solutions
10:33 – The bit with no railways
11:24 – The end bit
#railways #newzealand #wellington #transport #trains
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I tried to book a train from Palmerston North to Wellington in May, and after navigating the maze of different NZ rail websites, discovered that the next train was due in… September. NZ's rail system is so neglected.
Great video – many thanks. I travelled the Hutt-Wellington line most working days for over 40 years from the – 1971/2014 – with a few years’ hiatus down south. I still have a box of rail tickets to prove it. Unreliable service? Just go use the Auckland rail service – enough said! The Wellington rail service is exceptional and the quicker a line is built to the airport the better.
I used to live in paekakriki, and I was always interested in the other lines for some reason. Now that I live near palmerston north I figured how far the rail line went, and I was amazed! Thank you for this video
I was very rare, but i do recall on one or two occasions seeing the English Electrics run on the Kapiti Line. I never actually rode one myself…..I was still at school when they were retired and rarely used trains.
The big advantage of the Matangi's over their predecessors is easier wheelchair access, as the non-power car is low floor with no steps upon entry. The ramps (fitted by the green doors) are much easier to use than the stowed fold-out ramps used on the Ganz Mavag's, and there are dedicated wheelchair spaces on board, along with space for bikes as well!
Also, I understand from some friends more into rail than me that the Ganz Mavag's were unsuitable for the Johnsonville line, hence they were almost never used on it.
The ticket system is on it's way out…Snapper, Wellington's tag-on tag-off ticket system used on the bus network, is already on the Johnsonville line and will be on the other lines by the end of the year, hopefully.
I've lived in Wellington for most of my teenage and adult life. Recently moved to another city and man do I miss the trains. Where I live now has only buses and it takes an hour by bus to the central city, a trip that takes 20 mins by car and would probably take roughly the same amount by train.
the trains okay but I definitely dont rate the busses haha
It's great until the relentless weekend bus replacements take hold
are you telling me i could just catch a train to Auckland. just like that.
I work on the Melling line 😂
Great video!
I used to take the system from Paekakariki down to Wellington for various events or to see friends. It’s a beautiful ride from Paekakariki down to the Wellington station with gorgeous landscapes and seascapes all the way. Highly recommend it! Definitely better than driving.
i grew up on wellington used to catch the trains alot. i got no idea how you know so much about the history
Well thank YOU!
Very interesting and thank you!
1:22 The main systems that you show here (Kāpiti and Hutt lines) run along faultlines which your topographical map really highlights. We're just waiting for the next big shake to move them all around.
ETA: And your Māori pronunciation is not bad; not perfect but better than a lot of Kiwis.
I've lived in Wellington my whole life and I've never used our suburban network (the JVL). Just the regional one (up to Waikanae)
why is hobart not like this its so similar lol
Where the Porirua part huh??????
I think you nailed the pronunciation!
What a blast from the past! I rode every mile of the Wellington network (plus the entirety of the then steam-powered Main Trunk) as a schoolboy from 1954-57. It served us well to get from our boarding school to sporting and cultural events.
When I began commuting from Blackwood to Adelaide in 1978 near the end of the Red Hen era I would sometimes recall quite wistfully the smooth, quiet power (for then) of the Wellington sets. Thanks for the memories!
Honestly, I'm kind of sad they updated the look of the matangi trains, They looked super cool with all the wiring, reminds me of the electric locos of the 80s and 90s here in the UK! Have to admit aswell, those English Electric units look absolutely amazing. Also glad to see them still putting our old MK2s to good use, they look completely different now. Great little video though!
Scrapping the Wellington (Wgton) trams was not a mistake. The tracks made it impossible to fully seal road surfaces on hilly suburban routes and consequently there were repeated expensive problems with undermining of tram tracks and roads. The local terrain comprises an extinct volcano crater (the harbour) and post-glacial valleys. We also have active earthquake faults. Central tracks were a huge traffic problem except in a few parts of Wgton CBD. Adelaide Road is nice and wide for the first part but they had to build a huge concrete track bed to support the tram track. That concrete track bed caused massive problems for the drainage contractor (and obviously larger bills for the ratepayers) about twenty (20) years back when the drains under Adelaide Road were replaced. It is all very well (as I have done) to ride an old Wgton tram at QEII Park on a nice bit of flat line built over sand country BUT that was not the reality of Wgton’s tram network!
Melbourne has nice wide roads and much easier gradients which is why the trams worked so well when I visited in 1991.
P.S. the ‘ae’ at the end of Waikanae is pronounced like the ‘ie’ in die, lie, tie, etc.!
The railway was supposed to go all the way to Island Bay once upon a time (the airport and the eastern suburbs were mostly farmland at that point). But rails only reached as far as the former Te Aro station just south of where Te Papa is now between Cable and Wakefield streets. It being built in the late 1890s it was served by steam, and steam going through the city centre was not very popular. Electrification would have been more complicated back then and people would have rightly said that the tram network already served the city well enough so the rails were ripped up in 1917. If it had stuck around slightly longer it may have received electrification and a significant upgrade.
Looking at the places that aren't served by rail in Wellington, I think it would actually be a brilliant idea to bring back trams to those areas. Like proper modern trams with dedicated lanes and signal timings.
I didn't knew it hat such a challenging geography, very interresting video.
Newcastle is bigger geographically and population-wise.
You have taught me something and I live in the south island of NZ.
An informative quality production, full of facts, and pleasingly not hyperbolic. Cheers
The introduction of Snapper (bus) cards on this rail network has begun on the Johnsonville line and will shortly occur on the Hutt Valley lines. Visitors from places like Sydney will find that much more user friendly.
Having grown up in Wellington and now living on the Gold Coast, I had never really considered how lucky Wellington is to have such a good railway network relative to it’s size
The Johnsonville line was often under threat of being discontinued, particularly in the 90s, but thanks to Peter Dunne being the MP of the area and leader of a minor party that often found itself being required to prop up the government, the Johnsonville line managed to survive
Fascinating and enjoyable video.
Although I live in Britain, I've had an interest in NZ railways since my first visit in the 1970s. After travelling overnight from Auckland on the Silver Star sleeper, I saw the Wellington suburban system for the first time and got a photo of one of the English Electric locomotives.
Unfortunately, there were no trains from Picton to Christchurch so had to take the bus.
After touring South Island with a rental car, I took a local train to Lyttleton Harbour(I still have the rail ticket) for the then direct ferry back to Wellington. I did notice abandoned electrification gantries whilst at Lyttleton.
Back in Wellington, I then caught the Silver Fern back to Auckland so was able to see the North Island Main Trunk Line in daylight.
Seeing the suburban electrified systems around both Wellington and now Auckland, it is disappointing that Kiwi Rail and its predecessor NZR have put their faith in Diesels, most regrettably Chinese ones, when the cost of fossil fuels has gone through the roof. Even the electric trolleybuses of Wellington were doomed- seems crazy.
1067? That’s the main gauge for railways in my country
And do any other cities have Platform 9 3/4? (OK its not really a platform)
My father was an engineer responsible for NZ electric traction in the 50s and 60s. As a child I often heard stories of interesting fault-finding challenges. I seldom rode the trains because we lived near the central city.
I did not hear of the longest double track tunnel story though.
Interesting for me is that until recently (even now?) the ticketing system dates from before computer printers.
Tickets were/are cardboard pre-printed with the journey they covered. A ticket seller would choose from a board and sell the ticket.
None of this new-fangled computer business.
Both Wellington and Auckland built new city stations in the 1930s, in each case withdrawing to the edge of the CBD, thus crippling the usefulness of the suburban network in the city centre. Just now being sorted in Auckland.
Good video thanks, covered all I knew and more.