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Wellington Railway Station
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Wellington Railway Station is the southern terminus of New Zealand's North Island Main Trunk railway, Wairarapa Line and Johnsonville Branch.
History
When completed in 1937, it was New Zealand’s largest building. The land upon which it is built is reclaimed, and it was the first major New Zealand structure to incorporate a significant measure of earthquake resistance. It was constructed by Fletcher Building, and was one of that company's first major construction projects. It was designed by New Zealander W. Gray Young famous for his neo-Georgian styles.
When it opened, Wellington's two former stations closed: Lambton, built by New Zealand Government Railways to serve the Wairarapa line; and Thorndon, built by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company to serve what became the North Island Main Trunk via Johnsonville.
It has a steel frame encased in reinforced concrete and supported on groups of reinforced concrete piles. Bricks used for the outer cladding are of a special design, with slots to accommodate vertical rods reinforcing the brickwork and binding it to the structural members. It required 1.75 million bricks, plus 1500 tonnes of decorative granite and marble. The station is listed as a Category I Historic Place.[2]
Occupants
It was built to accommodate the head office of the New Zealand Railways Department and was the head office of its successors, the New Zealand Railways Corporation, New Zealand Rail Ltd and Tranz Rail, until the latter moved to Takapuna, Auckland. ONTRACK, the government's rail infrastructure owner, occupies the east wing with Toll New Zealand, and Victoria University of Wellington occupies the west wing.
On 4 December 2006 the New World Railway Metro supermarket opened on the ground floor. This coincides with considerable renovation of the station's interior and exterior, and the closure of the Railway Kiosk and the American Hotdog vendor.
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. Today, 22,000 passengers make 44,000 trips on 390 trains, excluding long-distance services.
Rail
The following Rail services use the station;
Bus
The following Bus services use the station from the side of platform 9 (platform 10);
Lambton Interchange Bus Terminal
The Lambton Interchange Bus Terminal lies just west of the Wellington Railway Station building connected by a subway, and services most Wellington bus routes.
The following bus routes service the station;
- 1: Island Bay
- 2: Miramar
- 3: Karori - Lyall Bay
- 4: Happy Valley
- 7: Kingston
- 8: Kowhai Park
- 9: Aro Street
- 10: Newtown Park
- 11: Seatoun
- 12: Wrights Hill - Vogeltown
- 14: Wilton - Kilbirnie
- 17: Victoria University
- 20: Mt Victoria
- 22: Mairangi - Southgate
- 23: Mairangi - Southgate/Houghton Bay
- 24: Miramar Heights via Evans Bay
- 30: Seatoun Express
- 32: Island Bay Express
- 43: Khandallah - Strathmore
- 44: Khandallah - Strathmore
- 45: Khandallah via Ngaio
- 46: Broadmeadows
- 54: Churton Park
- 55: Grenada Village
- 56: Newlands
- 81: Eastbourne
- 83: Eastbourne via Lower Hutt
- 84: Gracefield
- 85: Eastbourne Express
- 91: Airport Flyer
See also
Footnotes
- ^ Metlink. "Text description of fare zone boundaries". Greater Wellington Regional Council. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
- ^ "Register of Historic Places". New Zealand Historic Places Trust. Retrieved on 2008-07-08.
External links
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