Petone railway station passengers squeezed for ?future proof? changes
By Jamie Melbourne-Hayward
From August 30, passengers at the Petone railway station will only be able to board through the front four carriages of any train as the station undergoes an overhaul. Kiwirail spokesperson Ruth Larsen says they are working to keep the region?s stations open where possible and asks for the public?s patience. ?The changes we are doing now will mean the station is future proof and we won?t need to come along and dig it up again for other improvements. ?Under the tarmac we are installing the infrastructure for when the Greater Wellington Regional Council is ready for ?real-time? displays to go on top,? says Ms Larsen. Improvements to Petone railway station on the Hutt Valley line will have a lifetime of 50 years. The works begin on Sunday 30 August and is expected to take five months to complete. The underpass and overbridge will remain open throughout. Wellington Region Rail Programme Director David Gordon says Petone was one of a number of stations around the region being upgraded as part of a wider improvement project for Wellington?s rail network.? ?There is no doubt the platform work is disruptive to passengers but I hope they?ll be patient with us while we carry out these improvements. It certainly isn?t easy to rebuild a network at the same time as keeping normal services running. ?Work is complete at several of the station platforms on the Johnsonville Line and we are just starting work at Epuni. Next on the list are Redwood and Pukerua Bay stations on the Paraparaumu Line. ?We try as much as possible to keep stations open while we work but do remind passengers to take care around the construction sites and to follow the instructions of Tranz Metro staff,? he says. The work is necessary to accommodate the fleet of new Matangi trains arriving at the middle of next year. The stations platforms will be trimmed back and re-surfaced, with the addition of passenger safety features such as yellow tactile strips at the platform edge. The work is expected to be completed in January 2010.
