Haywards–Plimmerton Line

The Haywards–Plimmerton Line was a railway development proposed several times between 1879 and the 1960s to connect the Hutt Valley and Porirua areas of Wellington via Haywards.

The route was one of three options for a "Proposed Hutt Valley-Waikanae Route" which was to be the main route out of Wellington in 1879, although when built by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR) the line that became part of the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) north of Wellington went via Johnsonville (the present Johnsonville Line).

In the 1940s to 1960s a rail link from the Hutt Valley to Porirua was proposed for expected residential and industrial development in the Pauatahanui-Judgeford area at the head of the Pauatahanui Arm of the Porirua Harbour. This link was to follow the route of the present Paremata to Haywards Road (SH58) and required a tunnel. This proposed link was regarded a long-term project not justified in the immediate future and was abandoned in the 1970s.

In 1878 a 61-mile Wellington-Foxton railway was included in Public Works Department estimates, so in 1879 PWD surveyors ran three trial lines for the Wellington-Foxton railway. No 2 line surveyed by Climie via Johnsonville followed the coach route, and was eventually chosen. No 1 line surveyed by Wink and Hales which went from Upper Hutt to Waikanae via Akatarawa required two tunnels, a bridge over the Hutt River, a horseshoe curve to Bluff Creek Valley (now Reikorangi), and reached a height of 1560 feet above sea level, higher even than the Wairarapa Line. The line would have steep gradients of between 1 in 30 and 1 in 40, but was seriously considered, perhaps as there was millable timber in the area.

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