After careful consideration of our position, the Trust has withdrawn its current application to Greater Wellington Regional Council for a concession to reinstate the former railway route from Maymorn to Summit.

The Trust now has a much clearer picture of the work to be done to rebuild the former railway route. We thank all parties who have submitted and particpated in this process - we will review the information carefully and explore changes that might be made to improve and enhance the heritage railway proposal.

New Zealand Transport Agency report in their latest Rail Safety Update that 628,229 passengers traveled on rail heritage and tourist trains during the 2010-2011 year. 50 heritage and tourist rail operators are licenced to operate heritage and tourist trains on either the National Rail System or on their own network operations. The figures exclude long-distance passenger trains operated by KiwiRail, metro operations at Auckland and Wellington, and the Wellington Cable Car, which add a further 21 million journeys each year.

A note that the full walkway specification submitted to Greater Wellington Regional Council as part of our application is available for download and review from the New walkway page, with increased width to 4.0m, with the contour route having reduced gradients to between 0-5%. Direct download: Walkway specification: Maymorn to Summit, revised 2 December 2011 (1.3 MB PDF). We welcome comment and feedback on the specification and route, so that further changes and refinements can be made.

The FAQ section of our site has been extended with discussion of many areas of the railway project.

A busy couple of days, with a further visit to Positively Wellington Tourism on Monday, interviews with the Dominon Post, Upper Hutt Leader and today - an interview with Jim Mora on Afternoons, Radio New Zealand (bit.ly/s4jK4r). Many, many aspects of the heritage railway project to discuss and promote, and a key presentation to make to Greater Wellington Regional Council next week.

A quick note - currently migrating the site onto a Drupal CMS, navigation will be completed this evening.

Cheers!

The Trust welcomes debate on the historical accuracy of the name Remutaka, the name that was given to the mountain range by Haunuiananaia, an ancestor of the Te Ati Hau a Paparangi people of the Whanganui region. The railway reinstatement project seeks to faithfully replicate our railway heritage - and accuracy of place names also deserves our attention and respect.
Hugh McCracken, Chairperson.