Free fares for bus-replaced Wairarapa train services long time coming
Photo:
RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
Free fares for Wairarapa train services that have been bus replaced indefinitely have been a long time coming says a local councillor.
The route between the capital and Masterton has been plagued by issues for the first half of this year.
In March RNZ reported that just
17 percent of Wairarapa's trains were on time
for most of February.
Between April 2024 and April 2025 patronage on the line had plunged by 25 percent.
Greater Wellington Regional Council have pointed to a lack of staff on the Wairarapa line which have necessary specialised training for the Remutaka Tunnel which had resulted in four services a week being bus replaced till further notice.
The regional council believed Transdev who employed rail staff could provide enough training for the necessary number of workers by September.
At a meeting today, council decided until then the bus replaced services would be free on the Wairarapa line.
Greater Wellington regional councillor for Wairarapa Adrienne Staples said at the meeting the concessions were a long time coming.
"This has been going on for a couple of months, we've been tearing our hair out in Wairarapa about this, and it has taken such a long time for us to take it seriously."
Staples said the council now took the issue seriously but was critical for the time it took to do so.
Fellow councillor and transport committee chair Thomas Nash said this was good initiative but that the problem was in the context of a wider problem with passenger rail in New Zealand.
Nash said whenever tactical interventions like this were considered it needed to be done alongside consideration of long-term issues with the rail lines such as who owns the rail assets and the control of them.
It was estimated that the council would lose between $4000 and $6000 a week because of the concessions.
The council has also said that rail infrastructure issues such as rusty rails, points failures and signal faults have caused delays for trains.
KiwiRail chief metro and programmes officer David Gordon said the Wellington rail lines went through a period where they did not see the level of maintenance investment they needed for decades.
"Particularly the Wairarapa Line which was approaching a state where closure may have been necessary."
Gordon said while infrastructure issues contribute to the performance of the Wairarapa passenger trains, there were other factors.
"Service crewing shortages remain an ongoing problem and these are not a KiwiRail responsibility."
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