Goodbye Paraparaumu, Hello Kapiti

in Featured Top Debate Trains by Jon C — January 28, 2011 at 9:37 pm | 11 comments

In a few weeks, Wellington train commuters will see the start of the big year of improvements to their service.

It’s farewell to the familiar name of the Paraparaumu line which will be renamed the Kapiti Line because commuter services will run further north, to Waikanae. This starts Sunday February 20.

Gone will be the days of just one train every weekday from Waikanae – trains will run throughout the day, every day. The Wellington to Waikanae trip wil take exactly an hour. The first weekday train leaves Waikanae at 5am and the last one from Wellington leaves at 11.14pm which is a fantastic service. The new timetable is here

A Waikanae to Wellington 10 zone off-peak rail cash fare will be $9.50. Waikanae has a new station building with toilets and a waiting room featuring a display of the station’s history. The station also has a new, longer platform and a new carpark.

There will be numerous other changes on the day, including changes to most train times as well as changes to connecting bus routes and times -and more consistency in running patterns of trains which is most welcome.

The changes:

• The Paraparaumu line will be renamed the Kapiti Line and services will run to Waikanae
• Most service times will change
• More consistency in running patterns of the trains (e.g. express services will be more consistent regarding intermediate stops)
• The late night and early morning local services between Paekakariki and Paraparaumu will be discontinued
• Express service patterns will change
• More peak trains will stop in Tawa -more peak hour train trips from Melling and Tawa.
• Taita services will no longer stop at Ngauranga and Kaiwharawhara at peak times – passengers for these stations will need to connect to a Melling service at Petone
• More Sunday morning trips between Johnsonville and Wellington
• Porirua bus service improvements  include better bus and train connections, a direct bus service from Titahi Bay to Porirua East, changes to the bus route through Porirua CBD to make it easier for people to know where to catch buses from, later evening services to Titahi Bay and Whitby, a brand new bus service to Aotea and a door to door community bus service for Porirua East residents.

As well as the extension of the electrified train line to Waikanae, the line between McKays Crossing, north of Paekakariki, and Waikanae has been double tracked. This will help make train services more reliable and enable more peak hour services in the future.  Paraparaumu Station has a new station building with waiting room, ticket office and toilets. A longer subway replaces the overbridge which was not suitable for disabled passengers.

One not so good sign is that the policy on bicycles on trains is currently being reviewed. And the authority makes it clear that despite the changes, trains will setill run late or have problems, explaining: “ There is a lot of ongoing work to be done across the network but it will certainly go a long way towards more reliable services.” A 4am Saturday service and weekday 5am service from Plimmerton have been removed because only one or two people used them. Some Friday-only, late night and early morning services will be discontinued. Those extra Friday night services into Wellington were a throwback from the very old days of late night shopping.

So what of the new Matangi trains?

Passengers on the Hutt Valley Line will get their first taste of travel on a Matangi from late February.  The new trains will run initially at off-peak times between Wellington and Upper Hutt.

About three a month are arriving of the total of 48.

The stainless steel trains will run on the Johnsonville Line from May and on the Kapiti Line from July.

A spruced up Ganz Mavag unit, with some similar features to the brand new Matangi trains, is also about to appear.

The unit, one of the 30-year old fleet that run on the Hutt Valley and Kapiti Lines, has been entirely refurbished and given another 10 years’ lease of life.

The unit now has, like the Matangi trains, passenger-operated doors, a high quality public address system, passenger information display systems on the inside and outside and CCTV. Passengers will find new seats, new floor coverings and no ‘cold train’ syndrome, a problem that has arisen with the Ganz Mavags due to component failures. A range of engineering and mechanical improvements have been made to the train to improve reliability.

The refurbishment is a prototype which will be assessed by the regional council which will decide soon whether to refurbish the rest of the fleet.

Tags: Matangi Waikanae