Capital Connection

The Capital Connection train is a long-distance service between Palmerston North and Wellington on the North Island Main Trunk Railway in New Zealand . It is operated by the Kiwi Rail Scenic Journeys railway company . The train connection has existed since April 15, 1991 and was originally called Cityrail Express .

Traffic and stops

The train runs Monday through Friday and is mainly designed for long-distance commuters to Wellington. It drives from Palmerston North to Wellington in the morning and back again in the evening, the journey time is just over two hours. He serves the following stops:

The Capital Connection on the way to Wellington just before Porirua .

• Palmerston North
• Shannon
• Levin
• Otaki
• Waikanae
• Paraparaumu
• Wellington

In the summer of 1994 an attempt was made to offer a weekend connection on this route, but this was soon discontinued due to a lack of demand.

Locomotives and rolling stock

Originally the rolling stock consisted of NZR standard wagons (56 feet), since 1999 eight British Rail Mark2 wagons have been in use. These are three meters longer than the old cars and also more spacious and have air conditioning. There are both compartment and open seating cars. As a rule, the train is hauled by two diesel locomotives from the New Zealand series DC.

Web links

• Kiwi Rail Scenic Journeys Homepage
• KiwiRail Limited Homepage