Before the Wairarapa Connection,
88 seater railcars were used between Masterton and Wellington. They had replaced the
steam-hauled
mixed trains and
Wairarapa class railcars in 1955, when the
Rimutaka Tunnel opened and the line became the first fully dieselised line in New Zealand. The
Wairarapa Mail carriage train ran between Wellington and Woodville until 1948. In 1964, the demand between Masterton and Wellington was exceeding the capacity of the 88-seater railcars, with a capacity of 176 with two railcars. The solution was to introduce a diesel-hauled carriage service.
Carriage history In 1964, six
56-foot carriages from the
South Island were transferred north and fitted with Webasto kerosene-burning heaters for the service. They seated 336 passengers on two-person bench-type
Scarrett seats: class A passenger cars seated 56 and AL car-vans (with luggage compartment) seated 47. In 1976, three more As and an AL were added, later joined by another A and AL, all overhauled. They were fitted with fluorescent strip lighting similar to
Northerner and
Endeavour cars, and painted in a new, brighter shade of red, with white roofs as opposed to the standard silver oxide. In the early 1980s, with the refurbishment of the Picton and Greymouth services and the decision to use the former Endeavour carriages on new Gisborne-Wellington services, former
88-seater railcars painted a distinctive green and nicknamed
"Grass Grubs", were introduced to the Wairarapa service. However, the underframes were not designed to be towed in the long term and they deteriorated rapidly, bringing about their demise by 1985. The introduction of the
EM class "Ganz-Mavag" electric multiple units to the Wellington suburban system meant eleven 56-foot carriages became available, and the cancellation of the unnamed daylight successor to the
New Plymouth Night Express that ran between
New Plymouth and
Taumarunui freed more. A wooden 50-foot Z bogie box wagon was refitted with bogies that enabled it to run at passenger-train speed and was painted the same shade of bright red as the cars it accompanied. In the style of the new Fastrak and Northtrak express parcels logos that emphasised the new approach and priority of parcels traffic, the wagon had a logo known as Waitrak, as it was dedicated to Wairarapa services. In 1989, with the introduction of the
Bay Express between Wellington and Napier, the three remaining
Endeavour cars, of which two were ALs, became redundant, so the 54-seat A car and one 46-seat AL were assigned to Wairarapa services. With the streamlining of Greymouth expresses into one out-and-back operation, one Picton car became surplus to requirements and joined the Masterton fleet. In 1993, after the successful re-introduction and rebranding of the Capital Connection service, a similar refurbishment and rebranding program was initiated for the sixteen Wairarapa carriages, though only 12 were actually overhauled. This program lasted four years, until 1997. Six A cars and three of four ALs were thoroughly overhauled and refurbished with new-style seats. These vehicles were fitted with cloth on the interior walls to reduce noise and were fully carpeted. A class carriages seated 59, as one toilet from each car was removed to increase
seating capacity, while ALs seated 46. The other two A cars and the remaining AL were overhauled but retained their Scarrett seats, reupholstered with cloth material. The overhauls saw the introduction of the new
InterCity Rail blue livery, with a 220-mm white stripe and 100-mm green band inside it running the length of each car, with "Cityrail" emblazoned on both ends of each car. In 1995, as an interim measure leading up to the phasing in of the new all-over Cato blue livery of the new
Tranz Rail corporate image, a light blue 350-mm full-length stripe was introduced, and a new name for Cityrail,
Tranz Metro. From the beginning of the refurbishment of the seventh car, the new Cato blue livery was applied, along with the Tranz Metro logo. In 1995, two of the four ALs were equipped with generators similar to those installed in power-baggage vans used by long-distance passenger trains, making them power-luggage vans. In 2002 one car was refurbished for the Wairarapa but retained original seating, albeit reupholstered. In 2003 the other car was rebuilt and refurbished for use as a "small window" air-conditioned car for the NIMT passenger trains. A third car was stripped to the underframe but retained its compartment-dividing walls for profile purposes, while the fourth was scrapped. From 1999 onward, due to age and related deterioration, gradual withdrawal from service of older carriages occurred, and cars from long-distance
Tranz Scenic services were used on the interim. These included two former Auckland charter cars that were refurbished in 1993. These two cars were then permanently allocated to the Wairarapa. A former 1988 Southerner car turned NIMT no-frills car, later fitted with air-conditioning, was then permanently allocated to the Wairarapa. The sole remaining former single-lavatory first-class car, which served in the 1970 Southerner, 1988 Northerner and, as a "Backpackers" car, the
TranzCoastal Express in 1996, was also working the service in 2003. While on the TranzCoastal it was fitted with air-conditioning. This is not the first time this carriage has worked the Wairarapa services; in 1995, while assigned to the NIMT and sporting the InterCity blue with white stripe and green band, it ran on the Wairarapa Connection for a time with the first car-van to receive a generator. In 2006,
Hillside Engineering won the contract from the Greater Wellington Regional Council to rebuild 18
British Rail Mark 2 carriages to replace the fleet. They are classified SW for cars with passenger saloon only, SWS with servery and SWG with luggage compartment and generator for power supply. The S stands for "Scenic Series" and "W" for "Wairarapa", to distinguish them from their Capital Connection counterparts, classified S. On 11 May 2007, the first four cars entered service, with three more introduced on 18 June 2007 making up a 7-car consist. The remaining 11 cars entered service incrementally by the end of 2007. The inaugural run of the first four cars was on 14 May 2007, being met by the Minister of Transport,
Annette King, on arrival on Platform 9 at
Wellington at 9.20 am. It departed
Masterton at 7.30 am, and called at
Carterton at 7.48 am,
Featherston at 8.09 am and
Upper Hutt at 8.32 am The first run in service was on Thursday 18 May on train 1602, departing
Wellington at 8.25 am. In early 2007, the longest Wairarapa Connection consist (seven cars and van), which formed the weekdays 6.30 am from Masterton and 4.33 pm from Wellington had five cars replaced by ones from the now-disbanded charter fleet so that their Korean bogies can be overhauled and placed under five of the new SW cars. The charter cars run on old NZR
Timken bogies limited to 80 km/h, not the 100 km/h standard carriage train speed. In 2017, a survey found a desire for more off-peak and weekend services and a more punctual service. In July, Labour leader
Andrew Little promised expenditure on the line from the proposed regional development fund. The Wellington Metro upgrade was expected to improve operation of the service. In 2019, the GWRC proposed replacing in 2025 the
Capital Connection and Wairarapa Connection trains with 15 four-car
dual-mode multiple units, to operate from overhead power from Wellington to Upper Hutt or an on-board power source north of Upper Hutt; to cost $415 million. The
New Zealand Upgrade Programme announced on 30 January 2020 included for the Wairarapa Line passing loops at Carterton, Featherston and Maymorn and a second platform at Featherston. In February 2020, the GWRC announced that the Wairarapa Connection carriages were to be refurbished to extend their life until new rolling stock is introduced. In 2023 it was announced that 18 four-car trains will be built for Kapiti Coast and Wairarapa lines. Improvements planned for the Wairarapa Line beyond Upper Hutt from 2021 to 2024 include track renewals with full renewal in the Remutaka and Maoribank tunnels, renewals of timber elements in three bridges, refurbishments of some level crossings and drainage and vegetation clearing. ==Rolling stock==