Timeline

Some significant events in the history of the Hutt Valley Railway are:

• 26 May 1927. Double track branch railway opened from Petone to Waterloo, 2.5 miles.
• 7 January 1946. Single line extended from Waterloo to Naenae.
• February 1946. Proposal to extend the Taita railway to Silverstream, electrify Wellington - Upper Hutt and close the main line between Melling and Silverstream was approved.
• 14 April 1947. Single line extended from Naenae to Taita. Double line extended from Waterloo to Naenae.
• 22 February 1953. Double line extended from Naenae to Taita.
• 14 September 1953. Some electric trains began running between Wellington and Taita.
• 12 October 1953. (Stage One?). New timetable introduced with full electric services between Wellington and Taita.
• 23 November 1953. Stage Two. Electric trains to Lower Hutt.
• 28 February 1954. Railway between Melling and Haywards closed and single track railway between Taita and Haywards opened.
• 1 March 1954 Stage Three. New timetable. Electric services to Taita and Melling; diesel-hauled trains to Upper Hutt.
• 19 July 1954. Double line extended from Taita to north of Haywards.
• 21 November 1954. Single track over new Silverstream bridge brought into use.
• 26 June 1955. Double line extended to Trentham.
• 24 July 1955. New timetable with full electric services to Upper Hutt.
• 1970s(?) Electric locomotives replaced with diesels
• 1982 Formation of NZ Railways Corporation
• Ganz Mavag EMUs introduced. (1980/81?)
• 4 November 1982. Carriage trains replaced with EMUs.
• 26 November 1988. Waterloo Interchange (Hutt Central) opened.
• Cityline created (February 1989?).
• Wellington Regional Council (Ridewell) takes over responsibility for Wellington commuter services.(date?)
• 1990 Creation of NZ Rail
• Cityrail created (1 July 1991?).
• 1993 Privatisation
• 18 October 1995 Creation of Tranz Rail and Tranz Metro
• 1996 Tranz Rail listed on Stock Exchange
• May 2001 - Tranz Metro offered for sale
• 5 August 2001 - New timetable. Minor changes in the Hutt Valley; the major changes are on Paraparaumu services.
• April 2002 - Commerce Commission advises that it will not oppose Stagecoach entering into a joint venture with the Wellington Regional Council to purchase Tranz Metro. There are two other prospective partners with the WRC.
• December 2002 - WRC and Tranz Rail cannot agree on Due Diligence procedures. WRC decides not to purchase Tranz Metro and Tranz Rail says it will put the company on the open market.
• March 2003 - Cameron & Co appointed to handle the open sales process, which is expected to take six months.
• May 2003 - RailAmerica puts in takeover offer for Tranz Rail, then withdraws it.
• June 2003 - Government signs Heads of Agreement with Tranz Rail. Government will take ownership of the track and own a 35% stake in Tranz Rail - subject to shareholder approval.
• June 2003 - Toll makes takeover bid for Tranz Rail.
• August 2003 - Government puts in new offer that involves Toll running the trains and the Government purchasing the track for $1.
• September 2003 - Toll increases its offer price.
• July 2004 - By this date Toll had aquired about 88% of Tranz Rail and renamed it Toll Rail. Government took over ownership of the track for $1. Toll continued to operate the track until TrackCo was set up.
• August 2004 Connex take over running Auckland sububan trains so Tranz Metro now operates the Wellington services only.
• August 2004 Toll Rail, Transfund and the Greater Wellington Regional Council announce approval to upgraded English Electric units as a stop gap measure until a plan for new stock can be put in place.
• August 2004 - A new Tranz Metro Wellington timetable introduced because of a shortage of drivers.
• ?? Two-blue upgrade began.
• ?? Cyclops commissioned.
• ?? Trading name Metlink introduced.
• September 2006 Expressions of Interest called for 68 new carriages.
• 4 September 2006 GWRC takes over reponsibility for timetables (content and format).
• October 2006 GWRC considers options to reduce crowding, including removing some seats from EMUs and "SD" style cars with Eo locos.