1. Services

2. History

3. References

4. External links

Paekakariki railway station in Paekakariki on the Kapiti Coast, New Zealand is an intermediate station on the Kapiti Line for Metlink's electric multiple unit commuter trains from Wellington. Paekakariki was the terminal station of the commuter service from 1940 to 1983, when the service was extended to Paraparaumu, and to Waikanae in 2011.

The station was opened in 1886. Initially banking locomotives were attached at Paekakariki for the steep "hill" up to Pukerua Bay, and steam locomotives were changed there for electric locomotives to Wellington from 1940 to the 1960s.

The large wooden station building on an island platform is used by a museum, and has a bookshop run by Irving Lipshaw and Michael O’Leary in one section.^[1] There are a restored signal box and a level crossing at the south end.

Steam Incorporated has taken over most of the rail yard for rail preservation.

Several buildings are listed by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust: Category I; Signal Box and Water Vats; or Category II; Station, and Goods Shed. The station and yard is a historic area.

Services

Paekakariki is the second station before Waikanae, the northern terminus on the Kapiti Line, for commuter trains operated by Transdev Wellington under the Metlink brand contracted to the Greater Wellington Regional Council. Services between Wellington and Porirua or Waikanae 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 but do not stop.

Travel times by train are fourteen minutes to Waikanae, fifteen minutes to Porirua, forty-six minutes to Wellington for trains stopping at all stations, and forty-one 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.^[2] Before July 2018, off-peak passenger train services between Wellington and Waikanae ran every thirty minutes^[3] 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.^[2][4] All services running between Waikanae and Wellington stop at Paekakariki.^[5]

KiwiRail Scenic carriage trains and diesel-hauled KiwiRail freight trains pass by the station but do not stop, except that southbound freight trains may stop to attach banking engines.

History

The railway from Wellington to Paekakariki opened on 3 November 1886 as part of the Wellington-Manawatu Line built by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR).

Before 1905, the name was spelt Paikakariki.^[6]

Following the completion of the Tawa Flat deviation on 19 June 1937, electrification of the railway from Wellington to Paekakariki was completed on 24 July 1940 allowing electric locomotive-hauled commuters carriage trains to operate between Wellington and Paekakaiki. DM/D class multiple units were introduced in the 1950s and replaced most locomotive-hauled carriage trains.

From the completion of the electrification to Paekakariki in 1940, steam locomotives were not permitted to work south of Paekakariki due to the smoke nuisance in the long tunnels on the Tawa Flat deviation. Long-distance passenger and freight trains were hauled by ED electric locomotives between Wellington and Paekakariki where the locomotives were changed from electric to steam. During the 1950s, steam locomotives were progressively replaced by diesel-electric locomotives for long distance trains, but locomotives continued to be changed at Paekakariki because the new DA class diesel locomotives were initially unable to operate south of Paekakariki due to the limited clearances in the tunnels between Pukerua Bay and Paekakariki. Work was undertaken to lower the floors of these tunnels to improve clearances and from the 1960s diesel locomotives were able to work south of Paekakariki and locomotive changes at Paekakariki became unnecessary. However, electric locomotives were kept at Paekakariki to bank trains that needed assistance on the steep grade from Paekakariki to Pukerua Bay. In the 1980s, the purchase of additional multiple units and more powerful diesel locomotives allowed the electric locomotives to be withdrawn from service.

Electrification was extended north of Paekakariki to Paraparaumu, the section officially opened on 7 May 1983 allowing the extension of suburban commuter service to Paraparaumu which became the new northern terminal for suburban commuter services. Before 1983 there were buses from Paekakariki to Paraparaumu and Raumati.

The station previously had a refreshment room and a steam locomotive depot. The refreshment room closed when it became unnecessary to stop trains to change locomotives at Paekakariki. Locomotives were changed or a banker locomotive added for the steep bank up to Pukerua Bay, and from 1940 it was the southern terminal station for steam locomotives. Previously there was a signal box at each end of the station, a two-road shed with water, coal and oil facilities, a turntable, and (until Wellington Airport was opened) a rail/air freight depot for Paraparaumu Airport.^[7]

The Paekakariki Station Precinct Trust works "to acquire, develop, and administer the venue of the Railway Station Precinct at Paekakariki for recreational, historical preservation, tourism, and educational purposes, and for other allied or supporting activity".^[8]

References

External links

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20141028090921/http://stationmuseum.co.nz/index.htm Paekakariki Station Museum ]
• Photo Paekakariki station and houses, 1910
• Photo Paekakariki station and houses, 1920s
• Photo Paekakariki station yard, unloading timber for US forces camp at McKays Crossing, 1942
• Paikakariki Railway Station, from the Cyclopaedia of New Zealand, 1897

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