Slow train coming: a long, hot day on the Wairarapa line

Friday, 26 January 2018

It all started out so well. Catching the Wairarapa train is a wonderfully scenic way to get to Wellington, as Wednesday morning proved.

Chock-full with holidaying kids and exasperated mothers, the train was cool and comfortable, quickly passing through the golden Wairarapa countryside. There literally wasn't a cloud in the sky. The train wasn't even late.

All well and good. But, as many commuters know, the afternoon services are often anything but idyllic. There has been a torrent of criticism in recent months, with complaints about high heat, crammed carriages and late arrivals.

So we – or, more specifically, I – decided to check it out. Does the temperature really get above 35 degrees Celsius? Do commuters really end up drenched in sweat? 

**READ MORE:

* Get used to longer trips, commuters told

* Commuter jokes about Speedo strip to highlight rail line failings

* Investigation into Wairarapa trains after yet another breakdown**

First things first. Alerted to the presence of a reporter on the 4.25pm service, train operator Metlink appears to pull out all the stops.

Commuters turn up to find their carriages bathed in cool air and with the curtains drawn, prompting plenty of snide comments.

Featherston commuter David Coates, for one, isn't having any of it. 'It's not normally like this, no' he says, as people begin to filter in. 'It's been appalling in the evenings lately, and it's usually hot when you get on. It's dangerous, frankly.'

The train is nearly full when it jerks its way out of Wellington. Many are forced to stand between the carriages, sweating in the day's 25C-plus heat. Commuters talk of being forced to stand in these spaces until Upper Hutt, and sometimes even into Wairarapa.

Jody Cross, who catches the train to Carterton daily, says he stands about 70 per cent of the time. 'I'm not really that bothered because I have to sit down most of the day. But I can imagine it makes some people feel like second-class citizens.'

Even with the airconditioning on, the heat quickly begins to rise. Before the train has reached Petone, its first stop, sweat is already pouring off the faces off some staff members. 

It's these train workers many passengers feel most sorry for. 'At least we get to sit, but they have to run up and down the train the whole time,' one passenger says. 'They're really helpful, going around and offering water and the like, but they shouldn't have to work in conditions like this.'

The first delay comes at Trentham, when the train is forced to pull over to let another through. By now, though passengers maintain it's not as warm as usual, it's definitely hot.

I'm in the second carriage, which many say is the warmest, and soon a passenger's heat detector registers 31C. By the time we hit Upper Hutt a few minutes later, it's shot up to 36C.

The Wairarapa Commuters Facebook page has come alive, with a steady back and forth about the conditions onboard, including a few tongue-in-cheek requests for beer. People are beginning to look dishevelled. 

Many hop off at Upper Hutt, easing the way for those continuing on over the hill. I decide to join them and check out the following Wairarapa train – for the sake of balance – and find it's not actually too bad. The 5.30 is much cooler and more spacious, and the resumed journey is relatively uneventful.

Which is just as well, because it's certainly long – the initial small delay has ballooned out to an hour.

Due to heat restrictions, the train crawls its way over the hill, and the sun's beginning to go down when it eventually arrives in Masterton. Weary passengers stumble out at 8.15, exactly an hour late. About that beer, then …