I have always wondered why the Melling line was not extended to connect with the Wairarapa line at Manor Park. Now it could be a possibility.
And we may have missed an opportunity to relocate the Melling Station onto the other side of the river on the Riverbank car park, closer to the Lower Hutt CBD. We could still retain the car parking as it is, and have the new station on raised platforms, with the cars below. But I’m not a geotechnical engineer.
Are you meaning to cross to the south side of the river shortly after Melling and continue from there? They’re suggesting a new station for Belmont which I’d assumed to mean the northern side but maybe not, or maybe with a later crossing after that.
I hadn’t considered that possibility but it seems simpler if it can be done in a resilient way and if the most obvious conflicts with roads, cycleways etc were resolved somehow.