Trentham railway station, Upper Hutt facts for kids

Trentham Railway Station is an urban railway station in Trentham, a suburb of the city of Upper Hutt in the Wellington region of New Zealand's North Island. It is on the Hutt Valley Line section of the Wairarapa Line and has two side platforms. The station is served by Metlink's electric multiple unit trains of the "Matangi" FP class.

The double-tracking of the Wairarapa Line ends just north of Trentham station, with the line becoming single track as it continues north. However, in normal operation, southbound trains use the Ararino Street (western) platform and switch over to the down line south of the station. The Racecourse Road (eastern) platform is only used during race days and for other special occasions that occur at the adjacent Trentham Racecourse.

As part of the 2020-2021 Wellington Metro Rail Upgrade and double tracking to Upper Hutt the low platforms will be raised and the east "racecourse side" platform will be replaced with one further west to increase clearance between the two main lines. It will be accessed by a new subway, and have a new station building similar to the Redwood station building. In 2010 the 2010 – 2035 Regional Rail Plan (RRP) had proposed duplicating the track between Trentham and Upper Hutt in the 2011 – 2012 year.

Metlink tickets can be purchased from the Racecourse Dairy, opposite the railway station.

History

The station was opened on 8 January 1907. It was initially a single track station with a loop containing the racecourse platform, which served the recently opened Trentham Racecourse. Double track reached Trentham in June 1955, with electrification following in September.

Trentham was originally controlled from its own signal box on the main platform. Following double-tracking of the line to Trentham, the southern crossover points (number 18, now 1) and the associated signals protecting the crossover and the single line north could be controlled from the signal box at Upper Hutt, requiring the Trentham signal box only to be used on race days to operate the other crossovers and signals. On 6 February 2007, the Trentham and Upper Hutt signal boxes were decommissioned and control of both stations was moved to Train Control in central Wellington, and all crossovers and signals were renumbered.

There was a set of sidings in the Trentham Army Camp from 1941 to 1954, used for freight and for troop trains, with a shunting locomotive owned by the Army. Most of the track were removed in the 1970s. The siding was 0.53 km from Trentham Railway Station and 0.63 km from Heretaunga Railway Station.

Services

Trentham Railway Station serves the following Metlink bus services:

In 2016 the provision of 40 additional parking places was announced at a cost of $200,000; an increase from 94 to 134 places.

Work on upgrading the station in 2020 for the double-tracking of the line to Upper Hutt started with a ceremony in December 2019. The upgrading includes a second platform accessed by an underpass.