Subscribe to RSSPorirua Station Upgrade Starts
Porirua is next in line for Wellington’s train improvements. It will be more than $1m worth and starts next week.
It’s the second busiest station in the region. About 1.3 million train passenger journeys are made from Porirua Station each year.
KiwiRail will carry out the works, funded largely by Greater Wellington Regional Council, which include resurfacing the station platform and upgrading the bus shelter, subway, lighting and fencing.
The station will be open while the work is going on so people will be still be able to catch trains and buses as usual.
The council has commissioned artists for murals on the subway entrances and providing funding to re-paint the bus shelter.
New lights will be installed in the subway to showcase almost 60 new panels of specially designed artwork, and other subway walls and surfaces will be cleaned thoroughly to prepare for the new murals.
All floors and stairways at the station and subway will be upgraded to make them safer and easier to grip. Several handrails for stairs and ramps will be renewed to make them safer.
The station’s platforms will be re-surfaced and tactile studs will be installed along the entire length of the platform. Some new signs are already in place on the station and more will be installed.
The present station at Porirua |Kegan S
Ducting will be put in place for the introduction in future of Greater Wellington Regional Council’s real time passenger information systems.
Renovations to the bus interchange at the station include improvements to the footpath, painting of the bus shelter and more lighting, seating and information signs, to make the interchange brighter, more secure and more user-friendly.
Fencing will be replaced on both sides of the railway track near the station to make the area safer.
Wayne Hastie, General Manager of Greater Wellington’s Public Transport Group, says that for more people to use public transport the council needs to try and ensure that railway stations and bus shelters are safe, secure and pleasant places to be.
Work will continue into the new year, although KiwiRail expects the bulk of it to be complete before the end of this year.
Wellington Region Rail Programme Director David Gordon asked for passengers’ patience during the works.
“Having live construction sites on operating stations is disruptive but I hope people can keep the end goal in sight,” David Gordon said.
“When we’ve worked on other stations around the region, passengers have been understanding – at the end of the day these improvements will provide a more attractive and safer environment for everyone.”
17 Comments
though i think ive mentioned this b4, ive been to Sliverstream and noticed some slight improvements. this includes more lighting, big brother, and better signage. however it is lacking in seating and rubbish bins.
I’ve noticed that overseas a lot train stations no longer have rubbish bins on platforms, I always thought it was in case some idiot terrorist would slip a bomb in them. Does anyone know the real reason why there isn’t one?
I had a look at google, and found the reason why cityrail (australia) and other stationsremoved the bins.
“CityRail recently reviewed its security arrangements and has decided to continue with its decision not to provide rubbish bins at some stations.
While we acknowledge that not providing bins may be inconvenient, our priority is ensuring the safety of our customers and staff.
CityRail encourages customers to be responsible for removing their rubbish from trains and has begun a waste paper recycling pilot at a number of selected stations.”
It was part of the hysteria over terrorism. They either removed bins or introduced ones that made it hard to conceal bombs or put anything bigger than a lolly wrapper in. At Britomart there are clear plastic ones where the contents can be easily seen. New twin lid rubbish bins that include a recycling section - as introduced in the new Aotea square- are being put at Auckland railway stations in time for RWC.
Porirua Railway station is terribly run down. I don’t like going there in the evening becuase it does feel safe. The new mayor of Porirua has a vision to improve the CBD and bring life into the city. This would include apartments and more offices. A improved railway station will go some way to providing this.
I am dissapointed that they are only going to spend $1m on the station. I am sure during the Western Corridor Plan, it was proposed that $10m would be spent on the staion and bus connection. I am concerned how much improvements can be done with such a small amount of money. They should be looking at creating something similar to New Lynn! Well we can only really blame the GPS for lost funding for such projects.
Porirua Station’s major problem is that its location and design were based around 1950s assumptions, and thus it is stranded across a reasonable stream from the rest of the CBD, with no all weather connection at all,
In reality if it was to be built again it would require bending the tracks across the stream and rebuilding the station adjacent to the New World and the Mall entrance,
A subway in the CBD or mall would be nice!
Porirua really needs a decent rail bus interchange. This would further encourage use of the bus system in Porirua which seems to be rather average to say the least. There is a massive carpark on the motorway side which fills everyweek, however expantions to this carpark cannot continue forever.
It is true that there needs to be decent protection from the weather between the city and the station. But the walk also needs to be lively, which would shorten the trip. Even an overbridge from the station could shorten the trip from the northern end of the platform.
I have also slipped a handful of time on the steps. Could be a good time to invest in escalators and lifts
@ Brent C
Pretty sure you’re right about $10 million in the Western Corridor plan.
The current upgrade is more of a “catch up & patch up” rather than anything major (like a complete rebuild which is what should happen longer term). Basically things shouldn’t have been allowed to get as run down as they have.
In terms of safety, I’ve never had any real trouble but having to run the gauntlet of the 20c brigade (“Got twenny cents?”) loitering in the subway can be a bit intimidating especially when there are five or six of them. Still feels safer than the likes of Kenepuru and Naenae though…
On the subject of buses, the other thing that will likely increase patronage is running the Porirua East buses as cross town services through the city rather than terminating at the railway station. The current set up doesn’t provide good access to the arena, Pataka, Mega Centre, Polytech, etc.
Posted a few photos of Porirua Station here: http://www.bettertransport.org.nz/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1148&p=68628#p68628
@ Kegan
20c Club? Man which year have you been in lately? More like $1/$2 club….lol
As long as all the Horis hang out around the station like a bad smell, Porirua Station is always going to look ugly and delapadated. These $1m upgrades won’t do jack! Sure, the station will look pretty for a while, but eventually the local hoodlums will end up tagging the crap out of it, vandalise it, the subway will smell like piss like it normally does etc etc….
(I Wish I was exagerrating about the piss smell but I’m not!..lol)
I mean…you only have to look around that place on Friday or Saturday night to see why the station looks look crap!, and why they don’t bother spending money on it!
Sorry to be pessimistic on this one.
I’m really surprised that right next to the station there is an empty grass field!? Looks more like its sitting in the middle of the countryside! This area technically should be crammed with apartment blocks and malls!?
@ Kel
Its not really a field, its just a grass bank. The picture doesn’t show the stream to the left of it. Have a look at the link to the pictures that Kegan has to get a wider look of what the area looks like.
I don’t think that area should be developed Kel.There are major issues with pollution in that stream and in the Harbour.
There will be cross town Bus routes starting in Feb. They need to make bus routes in the CBD work better, especially at peak time when they get clogged up at roundabouts.
In terms of safety, for a station of its size (one of the bigger ones in Wellington) it should be far more safer and appealing to people. Instead it is dark, wet and run down. If you wouldn’t send your teenage daughter there after 7pm then yes, then we do have a problem.
@Kel
The grass is part of the Porirua Stream floodway - it can get pretty full after a torrential downpour.
@Geoff
“20c Club? Man which year have you been in lately?”
20c is the amount I most often get asked for - I guess I must look poor :lol
Unfortunately you’re right about the piss smell - they should waterblast it more often (preferrably overnight while the louts are in there). Wonder about putting gates on it so that it can be locked between last and first trains.
@Brent
PCC certainly like their roundabouts don’t they. From what I’ve seen, the worst problems the Mungavin Interchange and the one at the other end of the bridge.
Agree security could be better, but still maintain that there are worse stations - no one has tried to mug me at Porirua whereas its been (unsucessfully) attempted elsewhere.
What do you think of the final bus route structure for Porirua? I’m generally in favour of it with the exception of the Tawa routes - IMO both should be running the same core section between J’ville & Whitireia Polytech rather than splitting and offering a poor service to both branches. Frequency & service span of some routes leave something to be desired too.
@ Everyone: Then you all must agree that this isn’t the best place to have the train station, yeah?
I would definitely prefer to be sitting in my car in a traffic jam with a hot coffee and sandwich listening to music while going to work than trying to get to this place and wait for a train in Wellington weather. I am quite on Anthony’s side with this one. For public transport to be effective it must be centred around the public, ie: underground or amongst a large built up area. And connected to malls or convenience stores/shops to make the commute interesting/convenient. And maybe not up a flood valley next to streams and grass banks….
@Kel
Definitely a less than ideal location - but quite well used despite all that (second busiest on the network after Wellington).
That’s an extremely good sign then that this place has so many loyal PT users! If it was centrally and conveniently located with dense apartment blocks around it and a mall with entertainment facilities, imagine how many more people would start to use it!