Service Updates > Overall buses replacing trains details for Christmas/New Year - 26 Dec to 5 Jan
Valid from: 16/12/2019 9:00am
There will be changes to the opening hours of ticket offices across the network and at Wellington station over the Christmas break. You can also purchase your monthly tickets online here.
Cash is only accepted on board, for ticket agent information visit here.
Please note the opening hours of these ticket agents may vary over the Christmas period.
Regular ticketing will apply over this period; with off-peak ticketing on public holidays, weekends and from 9:00am to 3:00pm and after 6:30pm on weekdays. Non-public holidays where regular peak fares will apply will be 27, 30 & 31 December 2019 as well as 3 January 2020.
With the holidays fast approaching, we want to make sure everyone is aware of the changes to rail services over the Christmas Period. This information should allow you to plan your travel with no nasty surprises.
As well as running Saturday and Sunday timetables from Wednesday 25 December until Sunday 5 January (see the below table for details) there will also be a considerable amount of rail maintenance which will result in bus replacements on all lines between Thursday 26 December and Sunday 5 January.
More information about the specific timetables will be made available closer to the time, but if you would like to know more about the maintenance and project work occurring over this time check out Metlink’s Maintaining our Railways page or KiwiRail’s Wellington project page.
From Thursday 26 December until Sunday 5 January, all Kapiti line services will be replaced by buses between Wellington and Porirua only. This means train services will still be operating between Porirua and Waikanae.
- Detailed timetable PDF - 112 KB
Hutt Valley line –
From Thursday 26 December until Sunday 5 January all Hutt Valley services will be replaced by buses.
- Detailed timetable PDF - 126 KB
Melling line – (external link)
There will be hourly services between 6am and 6pm on select days from Thursday 26 December until Sunday 5 January. All of these services are replaced by bus.
- Detailed timetable PDF - 96 KB
Johnsonville line – (external link)
From Thursday 26 December until Sunday 5 January all Johnsonville services will be replaced by buses.
- Detailed timetable PDF - 118 KB
Wairarapa line – (external link)
Most services on the Wairarapa line will be replaced by bus between Wellington and Upper Hutt only from Thursday 26 December until Sunday 5 January.
The only exception to this is on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 December when services will be replaced along the whole line between Wellington and Masterton.
There will also be some additional services running on select days from Thursday 26 December until Sunday 5 January. (See the above table for details).
- Detailed timetable PDF - 102 KB
New Year’s Eve Services
There will still be additional hourly services running overnight on New Year’s Eve on Kapiti (with transfer to train at Porirua on the Kapiti line), Hutt Valley and Johnsonville lines as buses.
So don’t worry, we will still get you home after you celebrate the beginning of 2020.
