Story by Colin Ambler\/cvnznews.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wellington’s Metlink passengers are being warned to expect delays over Waitangi weekend, with major rail lines replaced by buses while KiwiRail carries out a fresh round of infrastructure upgrades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Metlink rail services will be replaced by buses from Friday 6 to Sunday 8 February<\/strong>, as KiwiRail continues its programme of network improvements following work completed over the New Year period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The K\u0101piti Line, Hutt Valley Line and Wairarapa Line<\/strong> will all be affected, with full bus\u2011replacement services running throughout the long weekend. The Johnsonville Line<\/strong> is the only route that will operate as normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KiwiRail says the upgrades include track replacements<\/strong>, construction work on Ava Bridge<\/strong>, and level\u2011crossing improvements<\/strong> along the Wairarapa Line. The work forms part of a wider effort to modernise Wellington\u2019s rail network and prepare it for faster, more frequent trains from 2028\/2029<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Metlink is advising passengers to plan ahead, allow extra time, and check the updated timetables before travelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additional delays are expected on the Hutt Valley Line<\/strong>, where buses will be forced to detour due to roadworks on Ewen Bridge<\/strong>. Travel times will be longer than usual, and congestion may cause further disruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Metlink says it appreciates the timing is inconvenient but stresses the upgrades are essential to improving long\u2011term reliability and performance across the region\u2019s rail network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Story by Colin Ambler\/cvnznews.com Wellington’s Metlink passengers are being warned to expect delays over Waitangi weekend, with major rail lines replaced by buses while KiwiRail carries out a fresh round of infrastructure upgrades. Metlink rail services will be replaced by buses from Friday 6 to Sunday 8 February, as KiwiRail continues its programme of network<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[41],"tags":[448,447,399],"coauthors":[446],"class_list":{"0":"post-9689","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-metlink","9":"tag-trains","10":"tag-wellington"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Metlink.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9689"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9692,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9689\/revisions\/9692"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9689"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=9689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}