Tranz Metro
 |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Owner | KiwiRail |
| Locale | Wellington Region, New Zealand |
| Transit type | Suburban rail |
| Number of lines | 5 |
| Number of stations | 49 |
| Annual ridership | 11.6 million (2013-14) |
| Headquarters | Wellington Railway Station, Wellington |
| Operation | |
| Began operation | July 1938 (electric trains introduced in Wellington) 1985 (CityRail created) 1995 (Renamed Tranz Metro) |
| Ended operation | 2 July 2016 (replaced by Transdev Wellington) |
| Number of vehicles | 166 |
| Technical | |
| System length | 154 km (96 mi) |
| Track gauge | 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) |
| Electrification | 1,600V DC overhead catenary (95 km or 59 mi) |
Tranz Metro (formerly CityRail and before that Cityline), was a New Zealand public transport operator. Beginning as the New Zealand Railways Corporation's Cityline division as a result of restructuring in the 1980s, in its final form Tranz Metro was the operator of Metlink's suburban trains owned by the Greater Wellington Regional Council in the Wellington Region of New Zealand.
From 3 July 2016 Wellington's commuter rail services are operated by Transdev Wellington.
Suburban passenger rail services in Auckland and Wellington were a part of the New Zealand Railways Department, while bus services were owned either by city corporations or the Railways. With the restructuring of the department into the New Zealand Railways Corporation in the early 1980s, suburban bus and rail services came under the Cityline brand as part of the Corporation's Rail Passenger Group. Further restructuring of the rail network came in the 1990s, and the suburban rail operations were renamed CityRail after they were transferred to New Zealand Rail Limited in 1991. That year the Auckland Regional Council bought the Auckland CityRail fleet and contracted New Zealand Rail to run it, extending the contract until 1993 and again for 10 years until 2003.
In 1993 New Zealand Rail Limited was privatised, renamed Tranz Rail in 1995, with CityRail rebranded Tranz Metro. On 15 December 2000, as part of management changes at Tranz Rail, the company split Tranz Metro into wholly owned subsidiaries Tranz Metro Auckland Ltd and Tranz Metro Wellington Ltd, with the intention of selling them. Stagecoach New Zealand and Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) announced their intention to bid for the Wellington company, but both were barred by the Commerce Commission from doing so. Tranz Rail did not bid for the Auckland contract when it expired in 2003. Australian-based Connex (later Veolia and now Transdev) won the contract, and took over from 23 August 2004. Tranz Metro Wellington reverted to a business unit of Tranz Rail, with new contracts being signed with GWRC in 2006 for network access, rolling stock maintenance and service delivery. The contracts expire in 2016.
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