Mana railway station

Mana is the second station north of Porirua on the Kapiti Line for commuter trains operated by Transdev Wellington under the Metlink brand contracted to the Greater Wellington Regional Council. Services between Wellington and Porirua or Waikanae are operated by electric multiple units of the FT/FP class (Matangi). Two diesel-hauled carriage trains, the Capital Connection and the Northern Explorer, pass through the station but do not stop.

Travel times by train are thirty-three minutes to Waikanae, six minutes to Porirua, twenty-seven minutes to Wellington for trains stopping at all stations, and twenty-three minutes for express trains that do not stop between Porirua and Wellington. Trains run every twenty minutes during daytime off-peak hours, more frequently during peak periods, and less frequently at night.[1] Before July 2018, off-peak passenger train services between Wellington and Waikanae ran every thirty minutes[2] but were increased to one every twenty minutes from 15 July 2018. Off-peak trains stop at all stations between Wellington and Waikanae. During peak periods, some trains from Wellington that stop at all stations may terminate at Porirua and return to Wellington while a number of peak services run express or non-stop between Wellington and Porirua before stopping at all stations from Porirua to Waikanae.[1]

KiwiRail Scenic carriage trains and diesel hauled KiwiRail freight trains pass by the station but do not stop.

The single platform halt was opened on 5 September 1949, when the first of the new DM/D class Electric Multiple Units (EMUs) ordered for the Hutt Valley Line were available. For traffic reasons only EMUs could stop there, although initially only 5 of the 13 trains each way on weekdays were operated by EMUs. The halt (along with the locality) was initially called Dolly Varden, but was changed to Mana in 1960 as many local residents did not like the name (from Dickens's Barnaby Rudge).

Double tracking north to Mana was opened on 7 November 1960. Mana station was built to fit into the duplication project:[3]

and the two platforms were ready some time before … As the new line was on a different alignment to the old, a temporary wooden platform was built to fit in the gap between the old track and the new platforms. This gave the station the appearance of an aircraft carrier flight deck.

The passenger shelters at Mana station were replaced with new shelters in the year ending June 2015.[4]