Ngauranga railway station

Ngauranga railway station is a single island platform railway station in the mainly industrial and commercial suburb of Ngauranga on the Wairarapa Line in Wellington, New Zealand. It is on the Wellington suburban rail network and is served by Melling Line trains and some only Hutt Valley Line trains. Wairarapa Connection trains pass this station but do not stop. All trains are run by Transdev as part of the Metlink network.

Ngauranga
Metlink regional rail
LocationHutt Road, Ngauranga, Wellington, New Zealand
Coordinates41°14′55.20″S 174°48′48.88″E
Owned byGreater Wellington Regional Council
Line(s)Melling Line
Hutt Valley Line
PlatformsSingle island
TracksMain line (2)
Construction
ParkingNo
Bicycle facilitiesNo
Other information
Fare zone3[1]
History
Opened20 April 1874
Rebuilt1966
Electrified14 September 1953
Previous namesNgahauranga
Services
Preceding station   Transdev Wellington   Following station
toward Melling
Melling Line
Terminus
toward Upper Hutt
Hutt Valley Line

Ngauranga formerly handled freight traffic, but is now used exclusively by commuter passenger trains. It is next to a waste disposal facility and at the bottom of the Ngauranga Gorge, next to the major road junction where State Highway 2 joins State Highway 1.

The North Island Main Trunk line crossing the Hutt Road to enter the first tunnel of the Tawa Flat deviation. Ngauranga station is in the background, alongside State Highway 1.

History

Though the rails of the Wairarapa Line reached Ngahauranga at New Year 1874,[2] the first section of the line was not opened until 14 April 1874.[3] Trains initially ran non-stop to the terminus of the line from Wellington, and it would not be until a week after opening, on 20 April, that Ngahauranga was included as a stop.[4]

Ngauranga station, looking south. To the left is the Down line, to the right the Up line. Behind the fence are the waste disposal facility and the abutment for the southbound bridge of the Ngauranga Flyover.
Ngauranga station, looking north. Notice the extra overhead wiring for a track between the Up line and the fence that has been removed.

Ngahauranga received its first building in late 1875.[4] About 1879, the station received a class 6 passenger shelter costing £160. At the time, it had neither crossing loops nor sidings.[5]

Livestock did not become a major source of traffic until the line reached Featherston in 1878, and was bolstered by the opening of the Wellington Meat Preserving and Refrigerating Company at Ngahauranga in 1884.[6] To serve the abattoir, a siding was laid from the station yard across Hutt Road to the company's works in June of that year. About 1890 the first station was replaced by an island platform and pens for unloading stock for the meatworks.[7]

The company had quickly become a significant customer for the railway, and in 1895 150,486 head of stock were railed to Ngahauranga.[8] By about 1900, the station had stockyards and two sidings.[9]

In the days of single-line working, Ngahauranga was used to cross trains and in 1887 became one of the first stations in the region to receive new signalling equipment. Instructions issued for the crossing of trains specified that Down trains were to take the loop while Up trains were to use the main line.[10]

Entrance to the tunnel formerly used by the Ngauranga Industrial Siding (Wellington Meat Export Company) from the Ngauranga railway station yard, now the access road to the waste disposal facility.

Early in the 20th century it was decided to duplicate the line between Wellington and Lower Hutt. Preparatory work was started in 1903 with construction commencing the following year. The duplication reached Ngahauranga in 1908, but was not completed until three years later when it opened to all traffic on 4 April 1911.[11]

The Wellington Meat Export Company, formed in 1881, operated an abattoir in the Ngauranga Gorge, and utilised the Ngauranga Industrial Siding to transport livestock in and carcasses out from the network of sidings in its own yard. The siding ran through a small tunnel under the motorway and crossed the Hutt Road to the works. The company operated the siding with a 20-ton Barclay 0-4-0ST until 1962, at which point it was replaced by a four-wheel diesel shunter.[12] The siding was closed and removed in the 1980s, and the tunnel under the motorway is now used for vehicular access to the waste disposal facility.

In 1966, the construction of the new motorway into Wellington necessitated the realignment of the railway through Ngauranga. A new station was constructed on reclaimed land including the present-day station building, which replaced the much grander wooden structure of the old station. The motorway was built over the siding to the abattoir by constructing a tunnel for the siding.[13]

In 1968, there was a reasonably extensive network of sidings at Ngauranga, including three lines on the western side of the station running parallel to the two main lines. The industrial siding to the abattoir connected with the station sidings at the southern end of the yard.[14] The construction of the Ngauranga Flyover and motorway interchange in 1982 was the last major construction work in the vicinity of the station. Only the two main lines on either side of the island platform remain.

Walkway from Hutt Road and subway entrance to Ngauranga railway station.

Services

Melling Line trains stop here every hour Monday to Friday, with daily half-hourly Hutt Valley Line trains supplementing at peak times. It is possible to transfer to buses to/from Johnsonville, Newlands or Churton Park at Ngauranga, to commute to the Hutt Valley without going into Wellington.

Bus

Metlink bus routes 1, 19e, 52, 56, 57, 58, 83 and 60e pass close to the station.

Facilities

A station building on the platform provides shelter for waiting passengers. Access to the station is by a subway under the Wellington Urban Motorway that connects via a short walkway to Hutt Road. No car parking is provided.

Footnotes
  1. Metlink. "Text description of fare zone boundaries". Greater Wellington Regional Council. Archived from the original on 18 December 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2007.
  2. Cameron, Walter Norman (1976). "Chapter 4: Construction And Operation, Wellington To Upper Hutt". A Line Of Railway: The Railway Conquest of the Rimutakas. Wellington: The New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society. p. 74. ISBN 0-908573-00-6. ... as by New Year 1874, the rails had reached Ngahauranga.
  3. "Chapter 4: Construction and Operation, Wellington to Upper Hutt". A Line Of Railway: The Railway Conquest of the Rimutakas. p. 77. The Hutt Railway was opened this morning ... Thus did the Evening Post of 14 April 1874 record the opening of the railway ...
  4. Hoy, Douglas G. (1970). "Early Years". Rails Out Of The Capital: Suburban Railways, Wellington. Wellington: The New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society. p. 13. Kaiwharawhara and Ngauranga became stopping places on 20 April 1874, but the first buildings were not erected until later in the following year.
  5. "Chapter 4: Construction and Operation, Wellington to Upper Hutt". A Line Of Railway: The Railway Conquest of the Rimutakas. p. 89. At this time Kaiwarra and Ngahauranga both received sixth-class stations, costing £160 each. Neither station had crossing loops or sidings as yet.
  6. "Chapter 8: Operating The Incline". A Line Of Railway: The Railway Conquest of the Rimutakas. pp. 188–189. Little livestock had been conveyed on the Wellington Section until the line was extended to Featherston, ... The establishment of ... the Wellington Meat Preserving and Freezing Company at Ngahauranga in 1884, gave a considerable impetus to livestock traffic, ...
  7. Meyer, R J (Bob) (1990). Up in the Hills: a history of Johnsonville. Wellington: Northern Suburbs Community Newspaper Trust. p. 37. ISBN 0-473-00925-0.
  8. "Chapter 13: Branch Lines And Sidings". A Line Of Railway: The Railway Conquest of the Rimutakas. p. 300. The Wellington Meat Preserving and Refrigerating Company commenced operations at Ngahauranga in 1884, with a siding from the station yard across the Hutt Road to the works. ... In 1895, 150,486 head of stock were railed to Ngahauranga, ... Livestock cartage became big business for this railway. ... At or Near: Ngahauranga, Grantee: Wellington Meat Export Company, Opened: 6/1884
  9. "Chapter 10: The Stations". A Line Of Railway: The Railway Conquest of the Rimutakas. p. 228. By about 1900 Ngahauranga station had grown to the extent of boasting two sidings and stock yards, ...
  10. "Chapter 11: Signalling And Train Working". A Line Of Railway: The Railway Conquest of the Rimutakas. p. 248. The first stations on this Section to receive signals were Ngahauranga, ... the working timetable for 1887 being the first one to list them. Instructions for the crossing of trains laid down that southbound trains were to take the siding or loop, and northbound trains were to take the main line.
  11. "Chapter 13: Branch Lines and Sidings". A Line Of Railway: The Railway Conquest of the Rimutakas. pp. 291, 293. Surveys and preparatory work were carried out in 1903 and in the following year work began at Lower Hutt and Petone ... The duplication reached Ngahauranga in 1908, Kaiwarra in 1909, and finally Wellington in 1911. The entire double line from Lower Hutt to Lambton was opened on 4 April 1911 ...
  12. "Private Lines". Rails Out Of The Capital: Suburban Railways, Wellington. p. 84. The Wellington Meat Export Company at Ngauranga is Wellington's other meat works and has quite a number of sidings within its works. Connection with the N.Z.R. at Ngauranga station is via a short line running across the Hutt Road and through a small tunnel under the motorway. Since about 1909 the Company has had its own locomotive for shunting between the works and Ngauranga station. Until 1962 this was carried out by a 20-ton Barclay 0-4-0ST that was built in Scotland in 1909. It was replaced by a four-wheeled steeple cab diesel shunter ...
  13. Hoy, D. G. (1970). "The Railway Today". Rails Out Of The Capital: Suburban Railways, Wellington. New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society. p. 77. ASIN B0006C70KK. Ngauranga, the next station, is the fourth to be built in the area and the present was erected early in 1966, when the whole area was re-aligned to make way for the new motorway. Standing on newly reclaimed land, the station building is only a small waiting shed, a marked contrast to the larger wooden building it replaced. The yard is quite extensive and a short tunnel takes one siding under the motorway to the Wellington Meat Export Company's works in Ngauranga Gorge.
  14. "Appendix D: Diagrams". Rails Out Of The Capital: Suburban Railways, Wellington. p. 107.
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