Porirua

Porirua

Porirua is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand, immediately north of the city of Wellington, with their central business districts 20 km apart. A large proportion of the population commutes to Wellington, so it may be considered a satellite city. It almost completely surrounds...

 Railway Station is an important intermediate station in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 on the Kapiti Line from Wellington

Wellington Railway Station

Wellington Railway Station is the southern terminus of New Zealand's North Island Main Trunk railway, Wairarapa Line and Johnsonville Line. In terms of number of services and in passenger numbers, it is New Zealand's busiest railway station.-Development:...

 and is part of Wellington's Metlink suburban rail network operated by Tranz Metro.

The island platform

Island platform

An island platform is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange...

 urban railway station is on a double track section of the North Island Main Trunk which was opened in 1885 , on the alignment of today's Down (southbound) line. There is subway access to Porirua city centre and bus stops serving the Porirua area.

Services

Porirua is served by electric multiple unit

Electric multiple unit

An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages, using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number of the carriages...

s owned by Greater Wellington Regional Council and operated on its behalf by Tranz Metro

Tranz Metro

Tranz Metro, part of KiwiRail, is the operator of Metlink suburban trains owned by the Greater Wellington Regional Council in the Wellington Region of New Zealand....

, part of KiwiRail

KiwiRail

KiwiRail Holdings Limited is the rail operations subsidiary of the New Zealand Railways Corporation, which trades as KiwiRail. Headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand, KiwiRail is the largest rail transport operator in New Zealand. Since July 2010 John Spencer has been the Chairman...

. Trains run every 30 minutes outside peak times, and more frequently during peak periods.

The station is the hub for bus services west to Titahi Bay and east to Porirua East and Ascot Park. Hoy wrote in 1968 that the importance of Porirua

is shown by the activity of arriving and departing trains and the fact that nearly half the weekday services terminate there. A goods shed and lengthy yard is avaliable for local industries. A casual observer will perhaps wonder where the City obtains its importance until he looks at the line of buses both private and N.Z.R. waiting to take passengers on to Porirua East and Titahi Bay. Well over 1,000,000 passengers are brought to the station annually on the Government buses alone. Porirua station is of modern design with a glassed in ticket office and waiting room at the northern end, while subways link the two bus stands on each side of the track.

History

The line was built by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR), and the section via Johnsonville

Johnsonville Railway Station

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...

 through Porirua to Paremata

Paremata Railway Station

Paremata Railway Station on the Kapiti Line section of the North Island Main Trunk Railway in Paremata in the city of Porirua, New Zealand, is part of the Wellington Region's Tranz Metro suburban rail network.It is double tracked with an island platform...

 was opened on 24 September 1885. The line was taken over by the government in 1908, and electrified in 1940 (with locomotive-hauled carriage trains) after the opening of the Tawa Flat deviation

Tawa Flat deviation

The Tawa Flat deviation is a double-track section of the North Island Main Trunk Railway just north of Wellington, New Zealand. It includes two tunnels, Tawa No. 1 and Tawa No. 2 , separated by the Ngauranga Gorge. No. 2 tunnel passes under Newlands and comes out at Glenside, on the way to Tawa...

. The line was double tracked from Tawa

Tawa Railway Station

Tawa Railway Station, originally called Tawa Flat, is located on the North Island Main Trunk Railway and is part of the suburban rail network of Wellington, New Zealand...

 to Porirua on 15 December 1957, and the new island-platform Porirua station opened some time later. Double tracking north to Mana

Mana Railway Station

Mana Railway Station on the Kapiti Line section of the North Island Main Trunk Railway in the "Mana" locality in the Paremata suburb of the city of Porirua, New Zealand is part of Wellington's Tranz Metro suburban rail network....

opened on 7 November 1960.