28 November 2011

Matangi services doubled

As of today, Matangi services will more than double on the Kapiti and Hutt Valley lines – increasing from the current 14 daily return trips to more than 30 return trips every weekday.

“This is great news for our customers who we know have felt the impact of service disruptions over the last couple of weeks, and we are very pleased to be able to bring them some good news,” says Tranz Metro Manager Scott Brooks.

Peter Glensor, Chair of Greater Wellington’s Economic Wellbeing Committee, which oversees public transport, also welcomed the increase in the number of Matangi services. “The Matangi trains are a cornerstone of the whole rail improvement programme – they make a real difference to service reliability and passenger satisfaction. The more we can have running, definitely the better.”

In addition to a number of off-peak services, the Hutt line will have the new Matangi trains operating on seven return services during the morning peak and five return services during the evening peak. The Kapiti line will have seven evening peak services and five morning peak services delivered by Matangi.

A total of 20 two-car Matangi units have now been commissioned and Tranz Metro has 39 qualified Matangi drivers.

“The Matangi training and Matangi commissioning programme has been aligned so that the amount of Locomotive Engineers (LEs) qualified to drive the trains matches the number of Matangi we have in service. As soon as LEs have completed the training, they are put straight onto an operational Matangi train to avoid skill fade and the need for retraining.

“In addition to this significant increase in Matangi services, we’ve had one more driver come out of training last week and a further four are expected out of training by the end of December.

“I'm confident that with the introduction of more Matangi services and more train drivers by the New Year, customers will be able to see more consistency in service delivery,” Mr Brooks says.

ENDS

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