Multiple proposals have been made for a branch line railway to Wainuiomata as part of the Wellington commuter railway network. Despite strong local pressure at times during the 20th century, none of the proposals have come to fruition. There are currently (2021) no plans under consideration to build a rail line to Wainuiomata, although in 2021 a Christchurch-based property development company advertised townhouses in Wainuiomata as in "close proximity" to a non-existent Wainuiomata Train Station.
Background
Wainuiomata is in an isolated valley separated from Petone and Lower Hutt by the Eastern Hutt hills. In the 19th and early 20th centuries this isolation made communication difficult and a railway was desired to provide more efficient access to the outside world. As roads improved and car ownership rates rose during the 20th century, this function of a proposed railway declined, but at the same time the population of Wainuiomata increased and commuters to Wellington desired a railway line. However, the terrain is not favourable for a railway. A line into Wainuiomata would require either a steep route over the hills, resulting in a slow journey, or a lengthy and costly tunnel. This geography has been the main contributing factor to the rejection of all proposals so far.
Proposals
1870 proposal
The first proposal for a railway to Wainuiomata came as part of a route for the Wairarapa Line across the Rimutaka Range. Four routes were surveyed, including one through Wainuiomata. It was suggested by a Mr Sinclair, who farmed in the area and claimed he knew a route over the Rimutakas. The line surveyed by John Rochfort and his party ran from Kaitoke, at the northern end of the Hutt Valley, across the Eastern Hutt Hills into the valley of the Wainuiomata River, which it followed before crossing into the valley of the Ōrongorongo River. To leave the Ōrongorongo River and reach the Wairarapa, the line had to follow a tributary stream to a height of approximately 344.5 m (1130 feet), from which it faced a sudden and insurmountable drop to the Wairarapa. Accordingly, the proposal was given no further consideration. The circuitous nature of the route via Kaitoke meant an abbreviated form of this proposal was never subsequently considered for a line to Wainuiomata.
1920s proposal
In order to enhance links between the Hutt Valley and the Wainuiomata Valley, then under development, and to cater for the needs of expected future residential development in the Wainuiomata Valley, a tunnel between the two valleys was proposed in 1928. On 2 July, an internal Railways Department memorandum noted of the proposal, made by the mayor of Lower Hutt in a recent meeting with the department:
Preliminary negotiations with affected land owners were commenced in September. An agreement was entered into between the department and the development company on 1 October, which set out the terms of the project and made the following points: The development company would construct a two-lane road tunnel, 55 chains in length, between Gracefield Road and the Wainuiomata Valley. The Railways Department would be granted the exclusive right to operate motor or electrical services through the tunnel. The development company would reserve sufficient land in the Wainuiomata Valley for terminal purposes for any services operated by the Railways Department through the tunnel. The company was to reserve a strip of land along the new main road through the company’s subdivision for the possible future installation of an electrical tramway. The Railways Department would commence operating a bus service from the Wainuiomata Valley to Wellington, Lower Hutt and Petone via the tunnel once there was a permanent resident population in the Wainuiomata Valley of at least 50 families. The Railways Department would, when the amount of traffic was sufficient to justify it, construct at its own expense an electrical tramway from Gracefield Road to the Wainuiomata subdivision.
In early 1929 the Railways Department encountered difficulties in trying to arrange for the acquisition of some of the required land from Morley & Co. Mr C. Morley had purchased the land while visiting New Zealand in 1927, and with a specific purpose for the land in mind was unwilling to exchange with the land sought by the department or be compensated for it. On being notified by the department that it intended to indefinitely postpone negotiations for the purchase of the affected land, Morley thanked them by letter on 23 May 1929 for their candour and advised that he intended to proceed with his intentions for the land.