SOLWAY Railway Station is to stay put.
Richard Noakes, Greater Wellington Regional Council transport infrastructure planner, confirmed the historic station will remain at its Ngaumutawa Road address after the council last week reviewed the option to shift it to Carterton.
"It is listed as a heritage site and it needs to be
recognised as one."
The regional council had originally planned to move the notable station to a secure site in Carterton to protect it from vandalism, he said.
"I noticed only a week ago that windows have been smashed at the station again. We wanted to protect it from that."
Ontrack owns the Solway station but the regional council is funding two new shelters at the site to accommodate commuters, Mr Noakes said. "We have permission from Ontrack to raise the station as part of council's platform upgrades but we don't want to damage the foundations when we do so. To ensure it's done properly we are employing a heritage architect to supervise the upgrade."
The regional council carried out public consultation at the time of the proposed site-change and Masterton's John Christensen voiced opposition.
Mr Christensen said he used to voluntarily look after the station after he saw how badly it was being vandalised. "I'm delighted that the station is staying where it is otherwise if it was moved it would just be a building stuck in a shed somewhere."
Security is a big issue at the station and Mr Christensen said "something needs to be done about it, but it still makes sense for it to stay in Solway and be protected".
A security camera at the station may fix some of the problems, he said. "The vandalism never used to be as bad as it is. There must be something that can be done to look after it."
