Johnsonville railway station  Johnsonville railway station is the terminus of the Johnsonville Line, one of eight stations on the commuter branch railway north of Wellington in New Zealand’s North Island. It serves the suburb of Johnsonville, and as a bus interchange attracts traffic from other suburbs to the north and east. The station is beside the Johnsonville Shopping Centre (also known as the "Johnsonville Mall"), a major regional shopping centre, which incorporates a Countdown supermarket. Numerous other businesses and organisations are nearby in a busy retail and commercial area. Electric multiple unit trains are operated as part of the Metlink network to and from Wellington. The original Johnsonville station was constructed by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company and was completed in 1883 though it was not used until the commencement of services on 24 September 1885 with the station having been officially opened along with the Wellington to Paremata section of the line on the 21st. Johnsonville was one of three stations built by the WMR on the section of the Wellington – Manawatu Line that is now the Johnsonville Line. It remained a through station following government purchase of the line and its incorporation into the North Island Main Trunk Railway, for freight until 1935 and passengers until 19 June 1937, when the Tawa Flat deviation was opened to all traffic and the old line between Johnsonville and Tawa was closed. This coincided with the opening of the new Wellington railway station. While part of the NIMT, goods trains from Wellington often required a banking engine (e.g. "Jumbo"; NZR Wj class) for the steep grades up to Ngaio and Khandallah, and were rearranged at Johnsonville. The siding originally accommodated a loco and only 16 wagons, and was extended in 1894 to take 34 wagons. The station used to be a much more extensive facility. In the WMR days, the station consisted of a platform, wooden station building, sidings, and extensive stockyards. In 1913 the NZR general manager Mr Hiley said relief for traffic on the steep grades out of Wellington was urgent, but with the Great War in 1914 the Johnsonville rail yards were greatly enlarged as an interim measure. Level crossings in Johnsonville Road and from Bill Cutting Place to Frankmoore Avenue were closed. An island platform with a new station replacing the original WMR building in 1915, and a signal box plus two pedestrian overbridges spanning the yard and connecting to Wanaka Street were built. The main road was diverted and a new connecting street built.