15 August 2025
File Ref: OIAPR-1274023063-39949
By email:
[FYI request #31395 email]
Tēnā koe
Request for information 2025-200
I refer to your request for information dated 27 June 2025, which was received by Greater
Wellington Regional Council (Greater Wellington) on 27 June 2025. You have requested the
following:
“I am requesting the following information regarding all train services scheduled to arrive at
Wellington Railway Station between 7:00am and 9:30am, for each of the past five calendar
years (2019–2024):
1. On-time performance data
Please provide:
1.1 The total number of scheduled services
1.2 The number and percentage of on-time services
1.3 The number and percentage of delayed services This should be provided in two formats:
- Daily-level data (i.e. each service per day, with its scheduled and actual arrival time)
- Annual aggregated data (summarised counts and percentages per year)
2. Delay analysis
For all delayed services, please provide:
2.1 A breakdown of the reasons for delays (e.g. mechanical issues, staffing, weather,
infrastructure, etc.)
2.2 The count and percentage of each delay reason per year Acknowledgement that multiple
reasons may apply to a single delay This should also be provided in both:
- Daily-level detail (with delay reasons per service)
- Annual summaries (aggregated counts and percentages)
3. Mitigation and improvement efforts
Please provide:
3.1 Any mitigation plans or operational changes implemented in response to delay trends
3.2 Any evaluations or outcomes of those mitigation efforts
Wellington office
Upper Hutt
Masterton office
0800 496 734
PO Box 11646
PO Box 40847
PO Box 41
www.gw.govt.nz
Manners St, Wel ington
1056 Fergusson Drive
Masterton 5840
[email address]
6142
3.3 Any current or planned initiatives aimed at improving on-time performance for these
services
4. Raw data request I request access to the underlying raw data used to generate the above
statistics, ideally in a machine-readable format (e.g. CSV, Excel, or similar). This should
include:
Service identifiers
Scheduled and actual arrival times
Delay durations
Delay reasons (if applicable)
Date of service”
Greater Wellington’s response follows:
On 7 July 2025 an officer contacted you to clarify the date and time range of your request, and
to clarify whether you would like the information for weekdays and weekends. On 11 July 2025
you responded:
“It would be great to include the data for the current year as well. To be specific, from
01/01/2019-30/06/2025.
Only weekdays will be fine.
7-9.30am would be fine.”
It was also requested that you would consider refining the following part of your request as we
had identified that in order to provide the information requested, it would unduly impact the
organisation’s business as usual operations:
“Please provide:
3.1 Any mitigation plans or operational changes implemented in response to delay trends
3.2 Any evaluations or outcomes of those mitigation efforts
3.3 Any current or planned initiatives aimed at improving on-time performance for these
services”
You indicated that you were unwilling to refine this section of your request.
Please note, over the time period requested Greater Wellington changed its performance
recording systems, and some of the measures for recording changed. Information from both
systems is included in the data attached.
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1. On-time performance data
Please see
Attachment 1 for information on scheduled services from 7:00am and 9:30am. The
information is broken down into calendar years.
This lists all scheduled trips which met the following criteria:
• Final stop was Wellington station.
• Scheduled arrival time at Wellington station was between 7am and 9:30am.
• Date was a day when a weekday timetable was operating (weekends, public holidays,
summer timetable periods and periods during COVID lockdowns when a weekend
timetable was operated were all excluded).
• Date was between 1 January 2019 and 30 June 2025.
For each scheduled trip, there are columns for:
• Date
• Route (Melling Line has been broken out to its own route based on trip number, while it
appears as HVL in some source systems).
• Trip number
• Scheduled start time: scheduled time at origin
• Scheduled end time: scheduled time at last stop (Wellington)
• Start stop: the code of the origin stop
• Last stop: the code of the last stop (WELL)
• Actual end time: when the service was recorded arriving at Wellington station
• End time delta: the difference between the scheduled end time and the actual end time
in seconds
• End time status:
o Early if end time delta is less than 0
o On-time if end time delta is greater than 0 and less than 300 (5 minutes)
o Late if end time delta is greater than 300
o Unsighted if actual end time is missing.
Annual summaries for scheduled trips between 7:00am and 9:30am can be found in
Attachment 2. This information is broken down into calendar years.
This information is broken down into calendar years.
2. Delay analysis
Please see information on delayed services in
Attachment 3 from 7:00am to 9:30am broken
down into calendar years. This lists all attributions, compiled from archived SPS reports
exported from Greater Wellington's and Transdev’s attribution systems (RPMS or Compass).
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For each scheduled trip, there are columns for:
• Date
• Trip number
• Category
• Failure reason
• Attribution group
• Responsibility
• Source system (RPMS or Compass)
Annual summaries can be found in
Attachment 2. In this attachment, attributions are given a
number which assigns responsibility for the delay.
1. Assigned to the operator
2. Assigned to rolling stock
3. Assigned to network
4. Assigned to third-party
Please see below the explanations for the following attributions:
• WMUP relates to Capital project work sites
• WMUP6A relates to the signalling system
• TSR relates to temporary speed restrictions.
3. Mitigation and improvement efforts
Greater Wellington continues to work with its partners, KiwiRail and Transdev, to address
delays in rail services. There are significant infrastructure constraints on the rail network which
have contributed to the delays and levels of service. This year, KiwiRail received additional
funding to address the backlog of deferred maintenance and historic underinvestment in the
network
:https://www.metlink.org.nz/news-and-updates/news/government-funding-for-
overdue-rail-renewals-on-track-in-hutt-valley The need for significant government investment was highlighted in the briefing to the incoming
transport minister, which you may access through the following link:
https://www.gw.govt.nz/assets/Documents/2023/12/Greater-Wellington-Regional-Council-
BIM-2023.pdf Rail improvement advocacy carried out by councillors is available on Greater Wellington’s
website, dating back to 2022. This can be accessed through the following link:
https://www.gw.govt.nz/your-council/council-and-councillors/council-advocacy/
The performance of the network is monitored and reported to Greater Wellington’s Transport
Committee. You can read those reports on the Greater Wellington website here:
https://www.gw.govt.nz/your-region/events-and-meetings/?start=0&date-range=future-
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dates&from-date=15%2F02%2F2024&to-date=&topics=committee-meetings%2Ccouncil-
meeting
Summaries of monthly performance are also published on the Metlink website through the
following link:
https://www.metlink.org.nz/about-us/performance-of-our-network
Transdev has provided Greater Wellington with regular updates on the day-to-day performance
of the Wairarapa Line, which are summarised on the Metlink website at the following link:
https://www.metlink.org.nz/news-and-updates/news/wairarapa-line-updates. The updates
date back to May 2025 and are published in order to maintain transparency about the efforts
being made by Transdev and Greater Wellington to address issues and passenger frustrations
with service levels on the Wairarapa Line.
The Wellington Rail Programme Business case sets out the strategic plan for the Wellington
Region’s rail system for the next 30 years. The programme outlines the key improvements that
the organisation wants to achieve, which will work to address the delays in the network. The
Rail Programme Business Case can be accessed through the following link:
https://www.gw.govt.nz/document/19937/wellington-rail-programme-business-case-
wellingtons-strategic-rail-plan-july-2022/
Please see the Transdev Monthly Reports for the years 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 in
Attachments 4, 5, 6 and 7.
These reports outline how performance is reported on and
measured in partnership with our operators, and the actions that are taken at an operational
level to address delays and reliability. While this is a subset of the information you have asked
for, we believe that the information provided will allow you to identify trends in performance
and accountability.
Greater Wellington’s Lower North Island Rail Integrated Mobility (LNIRIM) project will deliver 18
new trains and infrastructure improvements to the Wairarapa and Manawatū Lines,
significantly increasing the frequency of services and ensuring reliable, convenient, and
affordable public transport for the forecasted population. More information on this project is
available through the following link:
https://www.metlink.org.nz/news-and-updates/projects-
timeline/lnirim-north-island-rail-connection
Please note, information which is out of scope has been redacted from the Monthly Reports.
We have also redacted financial information under section 7(2)(b)(i ) of the Local Government
Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (the Act) on the ground that the withholding of
information is necessary to protect information where the making available of the information
would be likely unreasonably to prejudice the commercial position of the person who supplied
or who is the subject of the information. Information which has been withheld under section
7(2)(b)(ii) of the Act has been marked as such in the attachments.
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When withholding under this section, we are required to consider the public interest in the
release of the information. We have considered this and do not believe the public interest in the
information outweighs our decision to withhold the information.
4. Raw data
The raw data you have requested has been included in
Attachments 1, 2 and 3.
If you have any concerns with the decision(s) referred to in this letter, you have the right to
request an investigation and review by the Ombudsman under section 27(3) of the Act.
Please note that it is our policy to proactively release our responses to official information
requests where appropriate. Our response to your request will be published shortly on Greater
Wellington’s website with your personal information removed.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Samantha Gain Kaiwhakahaere Matua Waka-ā-atea | Group Manager Metlink
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