Redwood railway station

Redwood
Metlink suburban rail
Redwood railway station, looking south from the northern (up) platform.
Location Tawa Street, Redwood, Wellington, New Zealand
Coordinates 41°10.454′S 174°49.629′E / 41.174233°S 174.827150°E / -41.174233; 174.827150
Owned by Tranz Metro
Line(s) North Island Main Trunk
Platforms Dual side, staggered
Tracks Mainline (2)
Construction
Parking Yes
History
Opened 15 December 1963
Electrified June 1940
Services
  ONTRACK  
Preceding station   Tranz Metro   Following station
toward Waikanae
Kapiti Line
toward Wellington

Redwood railway station on the suburban rail network of Wellington, New Zealand, is on the North Island Main Trunk Railway (NIMT). Opening in late 1963, it is double tracked with staggered side platforms; the up platform (north, towards Waikanae) is on the north side of the Tawa Street level crossing, the down platform (towards Wellington) on the south.

Services

Redwood is served by Kapiti Line commuter trains operated by Tranz Metro under the Metlink brand every 30 minutes off-peak, more frequently during peak periods. Some peak services run express between Porirua and Wellington and do not stop at Redwood.[1]

Services are operated by electric multiple units of the EM/ET class and FT/FP class (Matangi). Two diesel-hauled carriage trains, the Capital Connection and the Northern Explorer, both pass through the station but do not stop.

Temporary Closure

The station was closed for about four months, from 8 February to 3 May 2010, and renovated at a cost in excess of $1 million. New passenger shelters were constructed, and both platforms were demolished and completely rebuilt as higher, 170 metre long, platforms.[2][3]

History

Redwood is one of only two stations on the Paraparaumu Line not on track built by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR); the other is Takapu Road to the south. The WMR built the original route of the NIMT between Wellington and Longburn and it was purchased by the New Zealand Railways Department in December 1908. The original route between Wellington and Porirua via Johnsonville, now truncated to the Johnsonville Line, was bypassed in the 1930s by the Tawa Flat deviation. Redwood is on the northern section of this deviation. The deviation opened for freight on 24 July 1935, for passengers on 19 June 1937, and was electrified in June 1940, but Redwood did not open until 15 December 1963.[4] The northbound Redwood platform is close to the location of the first Tawa railway station which was located on what is now Duncan Street north of the junction of Tawa and Duncan Streets, from 1885 to 1937.[5]

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, with housing development on Taylor Terrace south of Tawa Street and in the new Redwood subdivision to the southwest, there was a need for an additional railway station between Takapu Road and Tawa. The Tawa Street location was chosen as it had street access and there was room to provide car parks. The platforms were staggered north and south of Tawa Street to avoid the excessive operation of the flashing lights and bells and barrier arms at the Tawa Street Level Crossing (so that the train would not keep the warnings operating when stopped at the station).

The crossing has vehicle half-arm barriers, but pedestrians and cyclists tended to ignore the warnings and could cross into the path of a second train.[6] In 2018 the installation of four gates which automatically locked when the alarms were actuated was approved, at a cost of $900,000 (see CCTV photo of child cyclist ignoring warnings).[7]

References

  • Rails through the Valley: The story of the construction and use of the railway lines through Tawa by Bruce Murray and David Parsons (2008, Tawa Historical Society) ISBN 978-0-473-14410-4
  1. ↑ Metlink. "Paraparaumu Line timetable". Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 30 October 2007.
  2. ↑ "Redwood Station In Line For $1 Million Upgrade". Voxy. 7 December 2009. Retrieved 9 December 2009.
  3. ↑ Murray and Parsons, p. 226
  4. ↑ John Yonge, ed. (1993). New Zealand Railway and Tramway Atlas (fourth ed.). Exeter: Quail Map Company. p. 16.
  5. ↑ Hoy, D.G. (1970). Rails out of the Capital. NZRLS. pp. 24, 75.
  6. ↑ "On track for a tragedy increase of children dodging Wellington trains". Stuff (Fairfax). 19 April 2017.
  7. ↑ "Urgent $900,000 safety upgrade confirmed for high risk railway crossing". Stuff (Fairfax). 24 April 2018.
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