Interesting facts

Did you know?

Here are some interesting facts about public transport in the Wellington region.

• In a typical month over 800,000 trips are made by train in the Wellington region – imagine the congestion on our roads if rail was not an option.
• 56% of commuters from the Wairarapa take the train to Wellington.
• Clean, green - Wellington remains the only city in New Zealand with an electric train service.
• Wellington Railway Station, built in Georgian revival style with its classica portico and Spanish tiles, was opened in 1937 and at that time was the largest building in the country.
• Paraparaumu line has 19 stations, Upper Hutt line has 17, Wairarapa has 8, Johnsonville has 7, and Melling branch has 2.
• The longest tunnel in the region is the Maymorn tunnel on the Wairarapa line which is 8,798 metres long and takes approximately 7 minutes to travel through.
• The busiest rail station in the region (after Wellington) is the Porirua Station, followed by Waterloo and then Johnsonville.
• To accommodate the ever increasing number of rail commuters, Greater Wellington Regional Council has 4613 commuter car-parking spaces at stations across the region. Waterloo has 617 car parks, Paraparaumu 521, Porirua 480 and Petone 224, all of which are fully utilised on weekdays.
• During peak periods trains arrive and depart from Wellington Station every 2 to 3 minutes and over 10,000 passengers arrive at Wellington Railway Station by train on a typical week day morning between 7 am and 9 am.