Tranz Metro is the suburban rail operator in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. It is a subsidiary of KiwiRail.
In the 1980s the Auckland and Wellington suburban rail networks were part of the government-owned New Zealand Railways Corporation, operating with Railways-owned buses under the brand name Cityline, renamed CityRail after the railway operations were transferred to New Zealand Rail Ltd in 1991.In 1993 New Zealand Rail Ltd was privatised and renamed Tranz Rail in 1995, with CityRail rebranded Tranz Metro. The Auckland Regional Council bought the Auckland CityRail fleet, contracting New Zealand Rail to run it for 10 years.Tranz Metro was created as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tranz Rail in 2003, which announced its intention to sell Tranz Metro. Stagecoach New Zealand and the Greater Wellington Regional Council announced their intention to bid for the Wellington operations, but both were barred by the Commerce Commission from doing so.
In 2004 Toll Holdings of Australia bought a majority shareholding in Tranz Rail and renamed the company Toll NZ, and on 1 July 2008 it was bought by government and renamed kiwirail.
Services:
4 lines radiating from Wellington Station, with trains running mostly every 30 minutes
- electrified, 1067 mm gauge
- distances: Wellington - Upper Hutt 32.4 km km
Wellington - Johnsonville 10.5 km
Wellington - Plimmerton 24.5 km
Time table:
