Wairarapa Line

The Wairarapa Line is a secondary railway line in the south-east of the North Island of New Zealand, connecting the capital city of Wellington with the Wairarapa region. The line ends at Woodville, where it joins the Palmerston North - Gisborne Line. The Wairarapa Line was at one time the only New Zealand Government Railways route out of Wellington, as the present North Island Main Trunk route along the western side of the lower North Island was owned and operated by the private Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company from its completion in 1886 until 1908. Accordingly, the Wairarapa Line was a crucial part of the national rail network for some years after its linking to other parts of the government system in 1897. Until 1955, the line included the famous Rimutaka Incline, which used the Fell mountain railway system. Due to considerable historical and present operational differences, the line is sometimes considered to be two routes linked by the Rimutaka Tunnel, which replaced the Incline: the Hutt Valley Line on the western side of the Rimutaka Range, ending at Upper Hutt, and the remainder of the Wairarapa Line on the eastern side of the Rimutakas. The northern portion of the line is currently under review as part of KiwiRail's turnaround plan.

Four branch lines diverge from the Wairarapa Line: the Melling Branch, which was part of the main line until a deviation was opened in 1954, and the Gracefield Branch to Hutt Workshops, both still open; and the Greytown Branch, closed in 1953, and the Hutt Park Railway, which ceased serving its intended purpose in 1906 but survived in truncated form as an industrial siding until 1982.