Waterloo Interchange (Hutt Central) Railway Station

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Waterloo Interchange railway station is a dual-platform suburban railway station located in Lower Hutt, New Zealand, serving the suburbs of Waterloo, New Zealand, Lower Hutt Central and Woburn. Despite being signposted as Hutt Central, the official NZ Geographic Board name for this station is still Waterloo.The station is located on the Hutt Valley section of the Wairarapa Line, 15.5km north of Wellington, and is served by Transdev Wellington on behalf of the Greater Wellington Regional Council. Trains stopping at Waterloo run to Wellington, Taita, Upper Hutt and Masterton. Waterloo serves as a major bus-rail interchange, connecting buses from central Lower Hutt and Wainuiomata with trains to and from Wellington.HistoryTwo major reasons were the impetus for the construction of the Hutt Valley Branch between Petone and Waterloo: first, the Petone Workshops had reached the end of their useful life; second, with increasing traffic demands on the line between Petone and Haywards and the lack of room to double-track the line on its existing route meant a new main line had to be built. The line was surveyed between 1924 and 1925, with a short industrial branch leaving the Hutt Valley Branch at Woburn to serve the new Hutt Workshops. On 26 May 1927 the rails reached Waterloo, which was then in the middle of open fields. This station was the terminus of the Hutt Valley Branch line until an extension north to Naenae was opened in 1946. The station was opened with automatic, three-aspect colour light signals which had been standard since 1924.