From the 1897 completion of the Wairarapa Line until 1908, the route through the Wairarapa was NZR's primary means of accessing Wellington as the western line through the Kapiti Coast and Horowhenua was privately owned by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company.
East Coast Main Line | West Coast Main Line | New Line Cinema | Cunard Line | White Star Line | The Onedin Line | Maginot Line | Great Central Main Line | What's My Line? | Walk the Line | Stena Line | Line 13, Shanghai Metro | Line 13 | A Chorus Line | What's My Line | V/Line | branch line | Wirral Line | Siegfried Line | Midland Main Line | Gyeongbu Line | Line Renaud | Line Islands | Line 2 | Line 1, Beijing Subway | Line 1 | Green Line | Brighton Main Line | The Thin Red Line (1998 film) | The Thin Red Line |
The proposed No 3 line followed the Western Hutt Road, left the Wellington-Masterton Railway 12 miles 55 chains from Wellington (approximately 1.2 km south of the present day SH 2/SH 58 intersection), and climbed Haywards Hill to the saddle.
The Rimutaka Tunnel (officially Tunnel 2, Wairarapa Line) is a railway tunnel through New Zealand's Rimutaka Ranges, between Maymorn, near Upper Hutt, and Featherston, on the Wairarapa Line.
At Woodville Railway Station, the Palmerston North - Gisborne Line meets the Wairarapa Line and a balloon loop permits through running via the Wairarapa to Wellington.
Shortly after the nationalisation of the WMR line, the Napier Express was diverted from the Wairarapa Line to run through the Manawatu Gorge and down the former WMR line to Wellington.
At the time the Wairarapa Line was completed, the Wellington – Longburn line was owned and operated by the private Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, meaning all government trains from Wellington ran via the Wairarapa, giving a status of some importance to stations like Pahiatua.