Wairarapa Train Services Improve - But 'Public Don't Trust It'

Friday, 19 September 2025, 2:17 pm
Article: Emily Ireland - Local Democracy Reporter

Although train services on the Wairarapa Line are back on track following a staffing crisis, it will take a better track record to win back the trust of commuters, a council meeting heard. 

At Thursday’s Greater Wellington Regional Council’s Transport Committee meeting, representative Adrienne Staples said Wairarapa commuters were just waiting for their train service to “go wrong” and that it would take a long time to rebuild their trust. 

All timetabled services on the Wairarapa Line now operated as trains, with the exceptions of the Upper Hutt to Wellington portion of the 10.30am service departing Masterton, and the Wellington to Upper Hutt portion of the 12.45pm service departing Wellington, a report to the committee said. 

Both portions were currently bus replaced due to planned Kiwi Rail inter-peak maintenance on the Hutt Valley Line. 

It followed months of regular bus replacements due to the shortage of qualified train managers to run Wairarapa Line services. 

Staples said it had been “such a relief to be having a train service that is reasonably punctual and not having major breakdowns or issues”. 

“But I have to say, the public don’t trust it. They don’t,” she told the Transport Committee. 

“They’re just waiting for it to go wrong.” 

She said it was going to take a long time for commuters to trust that the Wairarapa Line service was a reliable option for transport. 

The Government and lower North Island councils recently signed a $1.066 billion deal to buy eighteen five-car battery electric trains, to increase services between Wellington, Wairarapa and Palmerston North. 

However, Staples said commuters were still apprehensive. 

The new trains were set to arrive in 2030, replacing 50-year-old diesel trains and carriages that currently ran services to the capital. 

“It should be a big thing that everyone should be celebrating, but all I’m hearing is, ‘oh God, we’ve got to wait five years for this to come right’,” Staples said. 

“We need to be aware of that.” 

The most recent network performance report was also included in the Transport Committee’s agenda which showed Wairarapa’s rail reliability for July was 74.8% and punctuality was 52.1%. 

The report said punctuality continued to be impacted by a high level of speed restrictions across the network, in particular on the Kāpiti and Wairarapa Lines, while KiwiRail works on were completed or bedded in. 

Interpeak services on the Wairarapa Line continue to experience delays due to network speed restrictions and active worksites, the report said. 

Level crossing upgrades were continuing across Wairarapa, including safety improvements at the Judds Rd rail crossing in Masterton, starting on September 20. 

-LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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