Wairarapa’s regional councillor has likened issues on the Wairarapa Line to British sitcom Fawlty Towers.

The Wairarapa Line has been plagued with reliability and punctuality issues due to insufficient staffing and maintenance work, but commuters have been told there is hope on the horizon.

It comes as a satisfaction survey showed less than 60% of commuters were satisfied with the Wairarapa Line.

Staffing on the Wairarapa Line was now meeting the required levels for service and four train managers were currently progressing through training.

Of these one would finish in late August, two in early September, and one in mid-October. Recruitment was also under way for the next training intake.

At Greater Wellington Regional Council’s Transport Committee meeting on Thursday, Wairarapa councillor Adrienne Staples asked for assurance that the Wairarapa Line would remain top of mind as the service was “obviously our problem child”.

“I know the staffing issues are all but fixed, but we’re still getting breakdowns that I just find hard to believe,” she said. “It sort of feels like Fawlty Towers when I get a call to say something broke because it had ice on it.”

Staples said she wanted assurance that the locomotives were properly maintained and properly checked before they were connected to their carriages “I just don’t feel quite convinced yet that we have a size 9 up its backside, to put it crudely. “That’s a rural expression.”

Council staff at the Transport Committee meeting told Staples that issues on the Wairarapa Line were being kept top of mind and that locomotive checks were being done before they reached the platform.

The Wairarapa Line was also undergoing a major upgrade as part of the $800 million Lower North Island Rail Integrated Mobility Programme. It included the purchase of 18 new four-car train units, infrastructure improvements, and the construction of a maintenance depot in Masterton.

A report to the committee said contracts for the upgrade were expected to be awarded in August or September. It was expected that the new trains would double peak-time services between Masterton and Wellington on the Wairarapa Line.

The new trains were scheduled to enter service in 2029, and improvements to service to start in 2030. Rail reliability for June was 77% for the Wairarapa Line and punctuality was 47%.

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