Naenae Station and subway improvements

High impact CCTV cameras will be installed on Naenae Station platform and subway in a bid to improve security and safety.

The cameras, which will be like those at Waterloo Station, will be paid for by Greater Wellington.

Other work, including ice-blasting and painting the subway, new lighting, and closing off potential ‘entrapment zones’ on several stairwells in the subway, will be paid for jointly by Greater Wellington and Hutt City Council.

The work, which will cost about $150,000 will be done within the next few months to help make the station and the subway safer for the hundreds of train passengers and local residents who use it daily.

Greater Wellington’s Transport and Access Committee Chair, Peter Glensor, said the 50m subway, which runs between Oxford and Cambridge Terraces, and has several entries and exits, was a notorious crime area. “It’s a very long subway, with several stairwells that have very poor visibility, and it has had safety problems ever since it was built in the 1950s.

“Increasing incidents of crime and vandalism at the station and subway are a major concern for all of us, but particularly for local school children, residents, and commuters. It’s also really imperative for us, as a regional council trying to encourage people to use the trains, to ensure our stations are safe and pleasant places.

“Ideally, Naenae Station could do with a vast amount of work, but that would be hugely expensive. However the work we have planned will brighten and lighten the subway and make it and the station more secure in the interim.”

A working party, comprising representatives from Greater Wellington, Hutt City Council, KiwiRail, ONTRACK and local police, will meet in early March to set a timeline for the work.

“The work will require the station and the subway to be closed for at least three days so the sooner we can do this, while the weather is still good, the better.”