Waikanae railway station facts for kids

Waikanae railway station in Waikanae on the Kapiti Coast, New Zealand is the terminal station on the Kapiti Line for Metlink's electric multiple unit commuter trains from Wellington. The railway is part of the North Island Main Trunk line that connects Wellington and Auckland.

Services

Waikanae is the northern terminal for Kapiti Line commuter trains operated by Transdev Wellington under the Metlink brand operating between Wellington and Porirua or Waikanae. Services are operated by electric multiple units of the FT/FP class (Matangi). Two diesel-hauled carriage trains, the Capital Connection and the Northern Explorer, pass through the station. The Capital Connection stops at Waikanae but the Northern Explorer does not.

Travel times by train are thirty-nine minutes to Porirua and one hour to Wellington for trains that stop at all stations and fifty-seven minutes for express trains that do not stop between Porirua and Wellington. Trains run every twenty minutes during daytime off-peak hours, more frequently during peak periods, and less frequently at night. Before July 2018, off-peak passenger train services between Wellington and Waikanae ran every thirty minutes but were increased to one every twenty minutes from 15 July 2018. Off-peak trains stop at all stations between Wellington and Waikanae. During peak periods, some trains from Wellington that stop at all stations may terminate at Porirua and return to Wellington while a number of peak services run express or non-stop between Wellington and Porirua before stopping at all stations from Porirua to Waikanae.

The following Metlink bus routes: 280: Waikanae Beach, 290: Ōtaki Beach, and 285: Kapiti Commuter service to Wellington (commercially operated), serve Waikanae station.

Waikanae station 1949

History

The station was opened in 1886, and was on the Wellington-Manawatu Line from Wellington to Longburn, built by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR) and provided both passenger and freight services. The Waikanae to Ōtaki contract, for 8 mi (13 km) to the north, was let to Messrs Wilkie and Wilson. To the south, Alexander and Macfarlane, of Whanganui had the last contract to be let, the 10 mi (16 km) Paikakariki and Waikanae section. The last spike ceremony was performed on 3 November 1886 at Otaihanga. The first through train from Wellington to Palmerston North ran on 30 November 1886. Waikanae was in the December 1886 timetable as a flag station. The railway has been part of the North Island Main Trunk (connecting Wellington and Auckland) since 1908.

A goods shed was built in 1895 and rebuilt in 1979. The platform was extended in 1897 and the station was improved in 1909, so that by 1911 it had a shelter shed, platform, cart approach, 25 ft (7.6 m) by 12 ft (3.7 m) goods shed, loading bank, cattle and sheep yards and a passing loop for 59 wagons (extended in 1940 to 90 wagons). From 1908 a tablet was used. A ladies waiting room was added in 1929, detached from the station building, for £214.14.6. Electric lights replaced oil at about the same time. Railway houses were built in 1892, 1928, 1930 and two in 1940. A new 24 ft (7.3 m) by 12 ft (3.7 m) station building, with an office, signal control panel, and accommodation for parcels was built by NZR staff, slightly to the south of the existing building, in 1968. The stockyards were removed in 1965. The station closed to goods traffic on 3 May 1986.

Electrification

The Wellington suburban electrified commuter service was extended from Paraparaumu to Waikanae on 20 February 2011. The new service was opened with ceremony on 19 February at Waikanae. Minister of Transport Steven Joyce and Ōtaki MP Nathan Guy drove the last spike. Guy's great-grandfather was chairman of the WMR when the last spike was driven in 1886. The ceremony was marked by protests against the proposed Kapiti Expressway, and Ōtaki-based list MP Darren Hughes was cheered for his opposition to the project in favour of rail investment.

The Paraparaumu and Waikanae stations were upgraded at a cost of more than $1 million each in 2010–2011. Upgrading of the original Waikanae station, rather than moving it south of Elizabeth Street or providing a road underpass, was criticized locally on the grounds that frequent closing of the Elizabeth Street level crossing south of the station would increase traffic congestion in Waikanae.

Waikanae River bridge

Almost a kilometre south of the station the NIMT crosses the Waikanae River. The original bridge was a 3-span timber truss. In 1925 a fence of old rails was built to protect the bridge, backed by fifteen old square iron tanks (sent from East Town), filled with river bed stones. By 1938 the bridge had been rebuilt in steel and concrete.