A small update on the Naenae station rebuild. Includes an artist's impression of the station.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/ne ... ke-the-busSome Hutt train commuters face more travel and expense for the next three months with the start of $1 million repairs to Naenae Station.
The station will be closed from Monday, May 14, as the platform, shelter and subway access are repaired and replaced.
Trains will no longer stop at Naenae until the work is completed on August 19.
Off-peak passengers face either a 1.7-kilometre walk, or catching an existing Valley Flyer bus from Naenae to another station and paying an additional fare to do so.
A Greater Wellington Regional Council spokeswoman said it would take about 15 minutes to walk from Naenae Station to either Wingate or Epuni Station, the next closest alternatives.
GWRC economic wellbeing committee chairman Peter Glensor said it was unfortunate that those outside of peak time would have to get themselves to another station.
A shuttle service would be provided on weekdays at no extra cost to transfer passengers who travel during peak times in the morning and again at evening, totalling about five hours a day.
"We simply couldn't afford to run that to catch every train," he said.
Hutt News has already fielded a complaint from a commuter who catches the 4.30am train from Upper Hutt at Naenae station.
There are no bus services running at that time to enable such early morning commuters to travel to another station.
The man, who declined to be named in the newspaper, said about half a dozen commuters catch the 4.30am train at Naenae.
Mr Glensor said the station was in such a terrible state of repair that it was not possible to fix up the building itself.
"We need to demolish it and replace it with a new shelter for the passengers catching the train.
"We are going to take the opportunity, while that is happening, of redoing the whole surface of the platform and also to do some more work on the subways."
Improving safety in the subway, which is the longest in the Wellington region, was another concern.
"A lot of people find it a very unpleasant place. We have already had to close some of the exits from the subway," he said.
There would be improved lighting in the stairways and the shelter itself would feature clear walls so that the station has greater visibility for passengers.
"I think people will be very happy with the finished product," Mr Glensor said.
Naenae Station - alternative services
A shuttle bus will run between Naenae Station and Waterloo Station during peak times every weekday from 6.26am till 8.53am and again from 3.25pm till 5.56pm. A valid Tranz Metro ticket will be required to ride the shuttle but the bus ride itself will be free. For off-peak travel, bus services 130 Naenae and 121 Valley Heights connect Naenae Station bus replacement stop with other stations. For more information about the remedial work visit tranzmetro.co.nz.
- Hutt News
As a regular commuter into Wellington from Naenae, I think the timetable for the shuttle buses are *very* narrow, there is still a lot of passengers from Naenae past 9am and to Naenae past 6pm (probably mainly university students, like me). The only day I leave home for Uni before 9 is Monday, and that means most of the time I have to either walk (on a VERY cold winter's morning, usually competing with rain, a howling southerly and two bags full of gear and books...), or pay $3.50 one way to catch the 121 or 130 to Waterloo Station (as if the $141.60 monthly pass isn't expensive enough!).
The fact that the station is finally getting redone is great, but I think GWRC could have come up with a more convenient shuttle service here.
In unrelated news, I saw RM 30 was sporting an urban paint job this morning - the railcar is VERY far into the depot, next to the Mainfreight terminal, I'd be very worried if people were able to sneak that far in undetected at night.
what can you do? any suggestions?