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ROSA WOODS/Stuff
Evening train services from Wellington City to Masterton were delayed after a person was spotted on the tracks. (File photo)
A person is in police custody after being seen near the train tracks in Upper Hutt, causing a delay to two train services. Police officers were called to the Upper Hutt area, where a person was on the train tracks at 5pm on Thursday. This delayed the 5.30pm and 6.18pm Wairarapa Line services, which travels between Wellington and Masterton. A KiwiRail spokesman said the Wairarapa line was closed for about an hour after a trespasser” was seen in the rail corridor.
Four passenger trains leave Masterton for Wellington every morning– at 5:46am, 6:20am, 6:47am and 10:30am respectively and all return to Wairarapa in the afternoon and evening. Every day several log trains also travel to Wellington Port from an inland port at Waingawa, just south of Masterton.
Andrew Gorrie/Stuff
General secretary of the Rail and Maritime Transport Union Wayne Butson was confident staff and passengers were safe travelling through the Remutaka Tunnel. Metlink general manager Scott Gallacher said the first alarm was on 6.47am service on Monday which prompted the move to transporting passengers on buses for that service for the remainder of the week.
KEVIN STENT/Stuff
Train driver David Jin says the view of the city from a southbound train can’t be beaten.
Metlink train driver David Jin is often among the very first Wellingtonians to start their day, taking hundreds of early commuters to work. He told
The Dominion Post about the magical views he sees from his driving cab.
How long have you been a Wellingtonian? Just shy of 2½ years. I’m one of the more recently-minted Wellingtonians, having moved here in late 2018 from Christchurch to become a train driver with Transdev Wellington, the operator of the Metlink rail services.