Latest news with #GreaterWellington
RNZ News
7 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
Buses replace trains all long weekend in Wellington
Passengers in Wellington should expect more travel time this weekend as busses replace trains across all rail lines. Greater Wellington Transport Committee Thomas Nash spoke to Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira. Tags: To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
Scoop
20-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Wellington Rail Network Budget Funding Welcome, But More Needed
Funding for Wellington rail network renewals in Budget 2025 is recognition of the precarious state of the metropolitan network, but ongoing investment is required, says Greater Wellington chair Daran Ponter. The government has allocated $143.6m for critical rail infrastructure renewals in Wellington and Auckland, from a total spend of $604.6m for the last two years of the Rail Network Investment Programme 2024-2027. Cr Ponter says the funding is essential for fixing broken down track assets and infrastructure that are plaguing the reliability of Metlink passenger services. 'It's music to my ears to hear the government has taken on board our calls for ongoing investment in rail infrastructure. Greater Wellington stands ready to work with KiwiRail to make the best use of this funding,' Cr Ponter says. 'We're relieved the Ministers for Transport and Rail understand the relationship between failing track assets, their impact on service reliability and falling passenger numbers. 'To restore commuter confidence in Metlink rail services, the investment announced today is a step towards faster and more punctual trains that reduce the road congestion stifling our region's economy.' Greater Wellington Transport Committee chair Thomas Nash says the funding is long overdue and will need to be sustained in future government budgets. 'We're grateful for this money and pleased the government has acknowledged more investment is required to properly renew its assets on the metropolitan rail network,' Cr Nash says. 'Currently our passenger services are beset by speed restrictions where track infrastructure is aging and cancellations when it fails. This has contributed to a steady decline in rail patronage, now down a third in Wellington from pre-Covid levels. 'Disgruntled rail passengers are continuing to switch to the roads, clogging State Highways and our cities with traffic, increasing carbon emissions and hampering economic activity.' To reverse this trend, Wairarapa regional councillor Adrienne Staples says between $700m and $900m is needed to renew Wellington rail network assets over the next 10-15 years. 'By confirming its 800-million-dollar investment in the LNIRIM project last year, the government signalled to rail commuters in places like the Wairarapa - it understood their pain,' Cr Staples says. 'I'm sure they join me in calling on the government to sustain its investment in renewing our aged rail network to restore the reliability of Wairarapa rail services and all Metlink passenger trains.'
RNZ News
18-05-2025
- Science
- RNZ News
Rare parasitic plant rediscovered near Wellington
Te pua o te Rēinga clusters discovered by a Greater Wellington contractor in the Wainuiomata Water Collection Area. Photo: Greater Wellington A parasitic plant endemic to Aotearoa has been rediscovered near Wainuiomata after wild populations of the species were thought to be extinct in the region. In the Wellington region Te pua o te Rēinga , also known as wood rose or Dactylanthus taylorii, is listed as critical on the threatened list. Greater Wellington regional council said the plant's seeds were translocated from the King Country to the Wellington region in 2020, but the last documented observation of a wild Te pua o te Rēinga population was in the Kaitoke area in 1914. Greater Wellington ecosystems and community manager and Rōpū Tiaki co-chair David Boone said a bird specialist working on behalf of Greater Wellington was not looking for the plant, but stumbled across several clusters in an area closed off from the public. The contractor in the Wainuiomata Water Collection Area was surveying a bird count station when they unexpectedly spotted the plants, he said. "The plants were not found in a healthy condition - more like relics of a remnant population - further monitoring is needed to understand the size and health of the population, and what we can do to preserve it," he said in a statement. "The forest in the Wainuiomata water collection area is largely unchanged since Europeans arrived in New Zealand and includes the largest and most pristine lowland forest in the lower North Island. It is a habitat for native bird species like tītipounamu (rifleman) and kiwi, and now one of New Zealand's rarest plants." A Te pua o te Rēinga tuber. Photo: Greater Wellington Department of Conservation operations manager and an expert on Te pua o te Rēinga, Avi Holzapfel, said this was the southernmost known population of the plant in New Zealand. The plants can live for decades or even longer, she said. "Initial indications are this is a remnant population of mature plants which may have been at the site for a long time - right under our noses," Holzapfel said in a statement. "Protecting the plants from predators like possums and rats will hopefully allow the plants to seed, which may be replanted to rejuvenate the population." The surrounding forest also needed to be protected given that the plant was fully dependent on host trees, she said. Te pua o te Rēinga male and female flowers. Photo: Nga Manu Nature Reserve / David Mudge Short-tailed bats, pekapeka, are a known pollinator of Te pua o te Rēinga. In early 2024 Greater Wellington council detected a new population of lesser short-tailed bats along the nearby Pākuratahi River. "As short-tailed bats can range over 40km during a single night's feeding, it is quite possible that bats have visited, fed on, and pollinated the newly discovered population in the past, and hopefully will do so again," Holzapfel said. The working group responsible for translocating Te pua o te Rēinga seeds to Zealandia and Ōtari-Wilton's bush in 2020 has reconvened to work with councils and the Department of Conservation to develop a co-management plan for the re-discovered wild population. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Scoop
13-05-2025
- General
- Scoop
Milestone Reached For Waipoua Flood Risk Management Plan
pA preferred option to protect areas in Masterton at risk of flooding from the Waipoua River has been proposed by Greater Wellington in collaboration with the local community and mana whenua. Incorporating feedback received from community engagement earlier this year, the preferred flood risk management option recommends upgrading and extending the existing stopbanks and investigating the use of nature-based solutions in the upper catchment. Wairarapa councillor Adrienne Staples says community input to the project has been crucial. 'Community members, mana whenua representatives, Greater Wellington and Masterton District Council staff have been working together to devise flood risk management strategies since 2019,' says Cr Staples. 'Combining the technical knowledge of council staff and the lived experience of locals means we can create lasting flood risk management plans while drawing from a diverse range of viewpoints.' Greater Wellington's director for knowledge and insights, Dave Hipkins, says the development of the preferred option is a significant milestone in improving Masterton's flood resilience. 'Masterton is built on a floodplain between three rivers, with parts of the urban area at risk from flooding in a 1% AEP flood — a flood that has a 1:100 chance of occurring in any given year,' says Hipkins. 'As we've experienced with Cyclone Gabrielle and other severe weather events recently there are devastating effects from flooding and these events are likely to become more unpredictable and hazardous due to climate change. 'This proposal will improve Masterton's flood resilience capability and preserve community infrastructure and urban areas. We are grateful for all the input we heard from locals and for the commitment of those involved in the Waipoua Project Team.'
RNZ News
08-05-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Wellington facing twice the amount of usual cryptosporidium
science health 20 minutes ago A nasty gastro parasite is making its presence felt in the capital with twice the number cryptosporidium cases that would be normal around this time of the year. As of last Thursday, there were 81 confirmed cases reported in the Greater Wellington Region for the year, with the majority reported from mid-March. The bug can cause severe vomiting and diarrhoea and people can be infectious for up to two weeks. Professor of Parasitology from the University of Otago Bruce Russell spoke to Lisa Owen.
