Melling Branch
Channel: all the knowledge of the universe PRINCIPIA
Date: 2022-01-19

Melling Branch, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10099539 / CC BY SA 3.0

#Rail_transport_in_Wellington
#Railway_lines_in_New_Zealand
#Public_transport_in_the_Wellington_Region
#Wellington_City
#Lower_Hutt
#Electric_railways_in_New_Zealand
#3_ft_6_in_gauge_railways_in_New_Zealand
The Melling Branch is a railway branch line in the Hutt Valley, north of Wellington, New Zealand.
It is part of the national rail network and formerly part of the Wairarapa Line.
Until 2010 it was one of only two passenger-only lines in the country （the second one being the Johnsonville Line）, since that year the two being joined by the Onehunga Branch and later by the Manukau Branch.
Services are operated by Transdev Wellington under the Metlink brand and marketed as the Melling Line.
Matangi EMU trains run between Wellington and Melling from Monday to Friday.
The colonial government of William Fox passed the Railways Act in 1870, which authorised the surveying of several railway lines including one from Wellington to the Wairarapa.
Surveyor John Rochfort was hired by the Public Works Department to investigate four potential routes for this line and reported back with his findings at the completion of his trip.
He recommended a line following the road between Wellington and Petoni [sic] on the seaward side, running up the western side of the Hutt Valley before crossing the Hutt River at Silver Stream [sic],
heading north through Upper Hutt, up the Mungaroa [sic] and Pakuratahi Valleys, and over the Rimutaka Range to Featherston.
The Public Works Department concurred with his assessment and tasked him with completing a more detailed survey including cost estimates.
Construction of the Wairarapa Line was authorised by the Railways Act of 1871.
A further survey was commissioned and carried out between January and April 1872.
The route of the line had been decided on in March but the Government, being cautious about such a large undertaking, was only willing to commit itself to...