Matangi news

 

The first of our new Matangi trains arrived safely in Wellington on Saturday 31 July.

Check out Greater Wellington's Facebook page for more pictures.

Forty-eight new electric trains are being built in South Korea for Metlink, Greater Wellington's public transport network. They will begin arriving regularly from October and the entire fleet is expected to be here by the end of 2011.

The first train will undergo thorough testing for the next few months.  While it will be seen going for test runs on the Upper Hutt and Kapiti lines  it is not expected to be in formal passenger service until about December.  

Running order

The new trains will run initially on the Hutt Valley line, then Johnsonville, followed by Kapiti. New trains will be running on all lines by June 2011.

When there are sufficient numbers of new trains in service, they will replace the 12 English Electric cars that run on the Johnsonville Line. So there will be a temporary reduction in the number of Matangi trains on the Hutt Valley line for a short time.

New features

Features of the new Matangi trains include a modern, stainless steel body; a low floor multi-function area in one car of each two-car unit for passengers with wheelchairs, buggies and bicycles; air-conditioned cooling and heating; doors operating on demand; open movement between a two-car unit; hearing loops in all cars; a public address system; and information systems with automated visual and audio next station information.

You can find out more about the new trains on our questions and answers page.

Rail improvement programme

A substantial amount of work needs to be done to prepare for the new trains.

A number of platforms need to be altered to accommodate the bigger trains; more sub-stations are needed to power the new trains and signalling systems need to be upgraded.

All the work is part of the Wellington Region Rail Improvement Programme, a joint initiative by KiwiRail (ONTRACK and Tranz Metro) and Greater Wellington Regional Council.

Buses replacing trains

Check Tranz Metro for information about when buses replace trains because lines are closed, to enable the major upgrade of the network to continue.