Johnsonville Railway Station

Johnsonville
Metlink commuter rail
Location Moorefield Road, Johnsonville, Wellington, New Zealand
Coordinates 41°13′24.01″S 174°48′17″E / 41.2233361°S 174.80472°E / -41.2233361; 174.80472
Owned by Greater Wellington Regional Council
Line(s) Johnsonville Line
Platforms Single side
Tracks Main line (1)
Construction
Parking 43 spaces
Other information
Fare zone 3[1]
History
Opened 21 September 1885
Closed 13 April 1968 (freight)
Rebuilt 1984
Electrified 2 July 1938
Services
  ONTRACK  
Preceding station   Tranz Metro   Following station
TerminusJohnsonville Line
toward Wellington
Johnsonville railway station, looking south.

Johnsonville railway station is the terminus of the Johnsonville Line, one of eight stations on the commuter branch railway north of Wellington in New Zealand’s North Island. It serves the suburb of Johnsonville, and as a bus interchange attracts traffic from other suburbs to the north and east.

The station is beside the Johnsonville Shopping Centre (also known as the "Johnsonville Mall"), a major regional shopping centre, which incorporates a Countdown supermarket. Numerous other businesses and organisations are nearby in a busy retail and commercial area.

Electric multiple unit trains are operated by Tranz Metro as part of the Metlink network to and from Wellington.

History

The original Johnsonville station was constructed by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company and was completed in 1883 though it was not used until the commencement of services on 24 September 1885 with the station having been officially opened along with the Wellington to Paremata section of the line on the 21st. Johnsonville was one of three stations built by the WMR on the section of the Wellington – Manawatu Line that is now the Johnsonville Line. It remained a through station following government purchase of the line and its incorporation into the North Island Main Trunk Railway, for freight until 1935 and passengers until 19 June 1937, when the Tawa Flat deviation was opened to all traffic and the old line between Johnsonville and Tawa was closed. This coincided with the opening of the new Wellington railway station.

Though the Railways Department wanted to keep the line closed, public pressure prevailed and the line was upgraded and electrified. The track between Johnsonville and Tawa was removed, and the new Johnsonville Line reopened on 2 July 1938 with Johnsonville as its terminus.

The Broderick Road overbridge crosses the line just south of the station. This photo showing commuter "park and ride" parking was taken before the platform was lengthened in 2010

The station used to be a much more extensive facility. In the WMR days, the station consisted of a platform, wooden station building, sidings, and extensive stock yards. The original WMR station building was replaced in 1915. Up to the last major reconfiguration of the yard there were four roads beside the platform, the outer most of which served the goods shed, with a separate siding serving the stock yards. The track had been removed from one side of the island platform to make way for a car park.

Significant sources of goods traffic through this station included livestock and timber. Local pressure led to the transfer of livestock traffic to new sidings near Raroa station in 1958, though the Johnsonville sidings were not lifted until 1970.

In 1984 the yard was realigned to make way for an expansion of the nearby shopping facilities. The line was truncated; all sidings, ancillary buildings, and stockyards were removed; the platform was moved further south, closer to Broderick Road; and a new station building was constructed. These changes meant that there are no "run-around" facilities, making it difficult to operate locomotive-hauled trains on the line. A Countdown supermarket occupies the site of the former platform and station building.

As part of the Johnsonville line upgrading in 2009-10, upgrading work on the Johnsonville Station platform started on 26 April 2010. The station was not closed, although some sections of the platform and some adjacent "park and ride" carparks were not available at times. [2]

Services

Trains depart at half-hourly intervals for Wellington, decreasing to quarter-hourly during peak times on week days.

The following Metlink bus services terminate at or connect through this station, referred to as the Johnsonville Hub on bus displays. From Wellington some go directly to the Johnsonville Hub, while others (e.g. 56,57,58) go via Helston Rd to Newlands or Paparangi first:

Looking north along the station platform.

Facilities

This station has a single side platform and station building, in which operates a small convenience store. It is also staffed on a limited basis for ticket sales. Access is from Moorefield Road or Johnsonville Mall.

Behind the station building are the bus interchange and mall car park. There is "park and ride" commuter parking by the south end of the platform separate from the Mall car park, and further parking in Moorefield Road across the line and north of the traffic lights.

The rail overbridge immediately south of the station is being upgraded in late 2014-15 to include cycle lanes and extra road lanes. Provision is made for dual tracks underneath (currently one track) into the station, as requested by the Greater Wellington Regional Council.[3] With the temporary loss of some park and ride commuter car parks by the south end of the station and in Burma Road, additional car parks were provided at Raroa Railway Station.[4]

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "Text description of fare zone boundaries". Metlink. Retrieved 2 January 2008.
  2. ↑ "Improvements to Johnsonville Station". Tranz Metro. 22 May 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  3. ↑ "new railway overbridge in johnsonville". Wellington City Council. 5 August 2014.
  4. ↑ Metlink, Reduced car parking at Johnsonville Station
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