Wellington railway station

"Wellington station" and "Wellington railway station" redirect here. For other uses, see Wellington station (disambiguation).

Wellington
Metlink regional rail
Wellington Railway Station Frontage at night, 14 May 2003.
General information
Location	Bunny Street, Wellington
Coordinates	41°16′43″S 174°46′51″E
Owned by	New Zealand Government
Line(s)	North Island Main Trunk Wairarapa Line Johnsonville Line
Platforms	9
Connections	Services
Construction
Structure type	At-grade terminal station
Parking	Yes
Accessible	most Metlink services (operated by Tranz Metro)
Other information
Station code	WELL (Metlink) WLG (KiwiRail Network)
Fare zone	1
History
Opened	19 June 1937
Electrified	1938
Services
KiwiRail   Preceding station   Metlink   Following station Template:Tranz Metro stations toward Template:Tranz Metro stations Template:Tranz Metro lines Terminus Template:Tranz Metro stations toward Template:Tranz Metro stations Template:Tranz Metro lines Template:Tranz Metro stations toward Template:Tranz Metro stations Template:Tranz Metro lines Template:Tranz Metro stations toward Template:Tranz Metro stations Template:Tranz Metro lines Template:Tranz Metro stations toward Template:Tranz Metro stations Template:Tranz Metro lines Preceding station   Tranz Scenic   Following station Template:Tranz Scenic stations toward Template:Tranz Scenic stations Template:Tranz Scenic lines Terminus Template:Tranz Scenic stations toward Template:Tranz Scenic stations Template:Tranz Scenic lines
Heritage New Zealand – Category 1
Designated	25-Sep-1986
Reference no.	1452

Wellington Railway Station is the southern terminus of New Zealand's North Island Main Trunk railway, Wairarapa Line and Johnsonville Line. In terms of number of services and in passenger numbers, it is New Zealand's busiest railway station.

History

Development

Wellington's first station, Pipitea, was built in 1874 as part of the city's first railway line, to the Hutt Valley, which opened that year. This station building burned down in 1878 and was replaced in 1880 by what became known as Lambton, built by New Zealand Government Railways to service the Wairarapa line.

Six years later a station later called Thorndon, was built by the privately owned Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company. This company was purchased by the New Zealand government in 1908 to incorporate the line into what became the North Island Main Trunk, via Johnsonville.

Once both stations were in government control public pressure began to build for a single terminal. The government decided on a co-ordinated development that included a new station building, and also after agreement was reached in 1922 between the Railways Department and the Wellington Harbour Board, the reclamation of about 68 acres (28 hectares) which would incorporate a new double-track railway, train marshalling areas, goods yards and sheds. This reclamation from the sea at Thorndon began in 1923 and was on track to be completed by 1932, which allowed the government in 1929 to confirm that Bunny Street would be the location of a new station which would remove the existing inconvenience of the two separate stations.

Without going through the process of a design competition, W. Gray Young, known for his neo-Georgian styles, of Wellington architects Gray Young, Morton & Young, was selected in 1929 to design the new station, over the Auckland firm of Gummer & Ford, which had designed Auckland Railway Station. Gray Young, Morton and Young was formed in 1923 and consisted of William Gray Young, Hubert Morton and Gray Young's brother Jack. The firm had recently finished large commissions for Victoria University, designing the Stout Building (1930) and Weir House (1930), and later the Kirk Building (1938).

The need to review building techniques after the Napier earthquake and the impact of the Depression on finances delayed the government formally committing to the project until June 1933.

Design

As the planned location was on reclaimed land, test piles were driven in 1928 to test the quality of soil. On the basis of the test results the decision was made to use Vibro cast-in-place piles to support the structure. The building was the first major New Zealand structure to incorporate a significant measure of earthquake resistance.

Gray Young was paid a 4% fee based on the originally estimated cost of £470,000. This cost rose to £483,000 once the quantity surveying firm of Maltby & Sommerville complied a detailed quantity schedule, for which they were paid 1% of the estimated cost. Because of the impact of the Depression on Government finances it was decided to reduce the cost by eliminating a mailroom and a section of the West wing along Featherston Street and by transferring the £28,000 cost of the platforms and verandahs to a separate budget. As a result the official estimated cost of the station was reduced to £350,000. To encourage employment of workers out of work due to the Depression the project received a subsidy of £34,000 (10% of the estimated cost) from the Employment Board.

The building is a U-shaped structure with the longest leg 105.5 metres [346 feet] long and 23.5 metres [77 feet] high. Because of delays in importing the specialized boring equipment needed to install the cast-in-place piles called for in the original design, the decision was made to use 1615 15 x 15 inch and 16 x 16 inch reinforced concrete piles to support the structure. These were driven by a steam-powered hammer. On top of the piles a five and six-storey steel framed structure was built. The steel was encased in reinforced concrete and 1.75 million bricks. 21,000 cubic yards of aggregate from the Hutt River with cement from Whangarei were mixed on site to create the concrete. The bricks used for the outer cladding were of a special design, with slots to accommodate vertical corrosion–resistant steel rods that reinforced the brickwork and bound it to the structural members. 1500 tons of decorative Hanmer and Whangarei granite and marble were used to clad the interior and the entranceway. 2500 gallons of paint were used. The roof was clad in Marseille tiles.

The main entrance was on the south side and was via a colonnade of eight, 13 metre [42 foot] high Doric columns which opened into a large booking hall decorated with delicately mottled dados that extended to a high vaulted ceiling.

The glazed roof concourse contained waiting rooms and toilets, a large dining room, a barbershop, book and fruit stalls and a first aid room. There was a nursery on the top floor to allow parents to leave their children while they shopped or waited for their train.

When completed the station was New Zealand’s largest building, partly because covering 0.6 hectares, and with a combined floor area of two hectares. It was designed to accommodate the 675 staff of the Railways Department head office and the Wellington district office, which until then had been accommodated in 11 leased buildings throughout the city.

The platforms, each of which was designed to accommodate up to 12 carriages, are made of concrete covered with a sealed surface under verandahs held up by railway irons.

A park was created opposite the main entrance with lawns and paths of paving stones with brick edging arranged in a herringbone pattern.

Construction

The construction tender closed on 25 September 1933, extended by 2 weeks in an attempt to encourage local manufacturers to offer locally manufactured materials. 12 tenders were received with Fletcher Building the lowest at £339,000. The next lowest tender was £350,000 from J T Julian & Son, who had constructed a significant part of the Auckland Railway Station.

Fletchers was awarded what was believed to be the largest single building contract let in New Zealand up to that time, to which a performance bond of £3000 was applied.

Fletchers appointed 26-year-old Joe Craig to manage his first major project. His prior experience had been on the construction of Chateau Tongariro, Massey College and earthquake reconstruction in Hastings. Craig’s management skills, supported by a large team of experienced foremen and a close working relationship with the architect, ensured that construction progressed very smoothly on a project that proved very profitable for Fletchers.

Work commenced on site on January 1934 with a workforce of 12, which built up to 161 in January 1936. Fletchers reduced the cost of the construction steel to £70,000 from an estimated £85,000 by directly importing it rather than purchasing it from local steel merchants, and had it fabricated on site by Wm Cable Ltd.

Progress was rapid, with 1500 of the piles driven by the time the foundation stone was laid on 17 December 1934 by the Duke of Gloucester, an occasion witnessed by an estimated 5000 people.

The contract was expanded to include the construction of an electric substation (commenced 1936) at a cost of £2022 and a locomotive maintenance workshop (commenced 1936) along the Thorndon Quay side of the railway yard. This cost £37,406 and is still in use.

In August 1938, to accommodate increasing staff numbers, work commenced on the construction of the section of the Featherston Street Wing removed from the original design to reduce its cost. This was undertaken as a separate project at a cost of £59,662.

A two-storey brick building with a mansard roof containing a social hall and a garage was built in 1937 facing Waterloo Quay to the north of the East wing, at a cost of £15,000. The garage was on the ground floor with the social hall occupying part of the ground floor and the entire first storey. The garage also incorporated rooms for the chauffeur to the Railways Departments General Manager.

Use

The station was opened on 19 June 1937 by the Governor-General of New Zealand, Viscount Galway. Lambton closed on 19 June 1937 and Thorndon on 8 June 1937.

Due to the reduction of railway staff numbers in the 1980s large parts of the building became under utilized. In 1982 in response to competition from road and air transport the New Zealand Railways Corporation replaced the Railways Department. The application of a more commercial attitude to the running of the organization resulted in a large reduction in staff employed at the Wellington Railway Station.

In 1988 the Railways-run bookstall and cafeteria were closed with subsequently the barber's shop and men's toilets being converted into 'Trax Bar and Cafe', while the women’s waiting rooms were converted into toilet blocks. The original dining hall and kitchen were converted to provide more office space. At about this time platforms 2 to 7 were shortened at the concourse end to provide increased space for waiting passengers. Large concrete planter boxes were installed at the end of the tracks to assist in stopping runaway trains.

As part of the creation of the Westpac Trust Stadium (completed November 1999) on surplus railway land to the north of the station an elevated walkway from Thorndon Quay to the stadium was installed with access via ramps from platforms 3/4, 5/6 and 7/8. To facilitate this work the canopies of platforms 7/8 and 9 were shortened to the same length as platforms 3/4 and 5/6.

In 1991 as a result of a major restructuring of the New Zealand Railways Corporation, ownership of the land and buildings was retained by the Railways Corporation while a new organisation known as New Zealand Rail Limited took over rail operations including freight distribution, commuter and long-distance passenger services and the Interisland ferry service. Both organisations retained offices in the Wellington Railway Station Building. In 1993, New Zealand Rail Limited was sold to a private business consortium, which became Tranz Rail Holdings Limited in 1995. In 2000 Tranz Rail moved to its head office to Auckland, but retained space in the station building from which to run the suburban network, Tranz Metro. Operational management of the entire national railway network remained in Wellington. In 2004 Tranz Rail was sold to Toll NZ Ltd, who then sold the track and infrastructure back to the Railways Corporation.

Between August 2003 and October 2008 the main station building was refurbished at a cost of NZ$14.6 million to house part of Victoria University in the West wing and Toll NZ (now KiwiRail) in the East wing. This work included a seismic upgrade, restoration and refurbishment, and installing three new lifts and a dedicated access in the south west corner to the university wing from the concourse. The architect was Athfield Architects with construction undertaken by Fletcher Construction. As part of this reorganization of the building the 24-hour-a-day train control centre was relocated from the western wing to the eastern side of the southern part of the building.

On 4 December 2006 the New World Railway Metro supermarket opened on the ground floor. This coincided with the closure of the Railway Kiosk and the American Hotdog vendor.

In 2010 the former social hall was converted into 660 square metres of boutique office space.

The station was registered on 25 September 1986 as a Category I Historic Place.

The station was used in a 2009 TV advert in the United Kingdom for train ticketing company TheTrainLine, where a large flock of sheep use the station facilities.

Occupants

It was originally built to accommodate the head office of the New Zealand Railways Department and is the head office of its successor, the KiwiRail, which occupies the east wing, Victoria University of Wellington the west wing.

The New World Railway Metro supermarket occupies part of the ground floor.

Services

The station copes with large daily passenger numbers with very little alteration having proved necessary. In its first year, 7,600 passengers made 15,200 trips on 140 trains daily. In the 1960s it was estimated that over 42,000 people used the station each day. Today, 22,000 passengers make 44,000 trips on 390 trains, excluding long-distance services.

Rail

The following services use the station;

• Metlink suburban trains to Johnsonville, Hutt Valley and Kapiti
• Metlink Wairarapa Connection to Masterton
• KiwiRail Scenic Capital Connection to Palmerston North
• KiwiRail Scenic Northern Explorer long-distance train to Auckland

Bus

The following bus services use the roadway beside platform 9;

• Interislander shuttles to the ferry terminal
• Intercity and Newmans long-distance coaches

Bus Terminal

The bus terminal, formerly called Lambton Interchange, is served by most Wellington bus routes and is connected to Wellington Station by a subway under Featherston St.

The following bus routes serve the bus terminal:

Previous Stop	Metlink Bus Services	Next Stop
Terminus	1 Island Bay	Lambton Quay towards Island Bay
	2 Miramar via Hataitai	Lambton Quay towards Miramar
	3 Karori Park - Lyall Bay	Lambton Quay towards Lyall Bay
	4 Happy Valley	Lambton Quay towards Happy Valley
	5 Hataitai	Lambton Quay towards Hataitai
	6 Lyall Bay	Lambton Quay towards Lyall Bay
	7 Kingston	Lambton Quay towards Kingston
	8 Kowhai Park	Lambton Quay towards Brooklyn
	9 Aro Street	Lambton Quay towards Aro Valley
	10 Newtown Park	Lambton Quay towards Newtown
	11 Seatoun	Lambton Quay towards Seatoun
Molesworth Street towards Wilton	14 Wilton - Kilbirnie	Lambton Quay towards Kilbirnie
Terminus	17 Karori Park via Victoria University	The Terrace towards Karori
The Terrace towards Highbury	20 Highbury - Mount Victoria	Lambton Quay towards Mount Victoria
The Terrace towards Mairangi	22 / 23 Mairangi - Southgate/Houghton Bay	Lambton Quay towards Houghton Bay
Terminus	24 Miramar Heights via Evans Bay	Lambton Quay towards Miramar
	25 Strathmore	Lambton Quay towards Strathmore
	30 Seatoun Express	Lambton Quay towards Seatoun
	31 Miramar North Express	Lambton Quay towards Miramar
	32 Island Bay Express	Lambton Quay towards Island Bay
Thorndon Quay towards Khandallah	43 / 44 Khandallah - Strathmore	Lambton Quay towards Strathmore
Thorndon Quay towards Ngaio	45 Ngaio	Lambton Quay towards Brandon Street
Thorndon Quay towards Broadmeadows	46 Broadmeadows	Lambton Quay towards Courtenay Place
Thorndon Quay towards Johnsonville	52 Johnsonville via Newlands
	53 Johnsonville West
Thorndon Quay towards Churton Park	54 Churton Park
Thorndon Quay towards Grenada Village	55 Grenada Village via Johnsonville
Thorndon Quay towards Johnsonville	56 Johnsonville via Newlands
Thorndon Quay towards Woodridge	57 Woodridge
Thorndon Quay towards Baylands	58 Baylands via Newlands
Molesworth Street towards Wainuiomata	80 Wainuiomata Commuter
Molesworth Street towards Eastbourne	81 Eastbourne
Thorndon Quay towards Eastbourne	83 Eastbourne via Lower Hutt
Molesworth Street towards Gracefield	84 Gracefield
Molesworth Street towards Eastbourne	85 Eastbourne Express
Molesworth Street towards Stokes Valley	90 Stokes Valley Commuter
Molesworth Street towards Upper Hutt	91 Airport Flyer	Lambton Quay towards Queensgate
Thorndon Quay towards Porirua	211 Porirua	Lambton Quay towards Courtenay Place

See also

• Rail transport in New Zealand
• Public transport in Wellington

External links

Media related to Wellington Railway Station at Wikimedia Commons

• View Beek Interactive Guide

Further reading

• Goldsmith, Paul (2009). Fletchers – A Centennial History of Fletcher Building. Auckland: Davia Ling Publishing. p. 352. ISBN 978-1-877378-35-5. {{cite book}}: |format= requires |url= (help)
• Smith, Jack (2009). No Job Too Big – A History of Fletcher Construction Volume I: 1909-1940. Wellington: Steele Roberts. p. 342. ISBN 9781877448690. {{cite book}}: |format= requires |url= (help)