Rail History

Auckland is finally getting electric trains.

It’s been a long sad story of missed opportunities.

Aucklanders fell in love with the motor car and thought they could become a mini Los Angeles .

The building of motorways and opening up the North Shore with the Auckland Harbour Bridge from the 1950’s changed the landscape for ever.

Even the politicians underestimated how popular the bridge would quickly become and extensions were needed.

Trams were taken off the roads so they didn’t hamper the progress of the growing numbers of vehicles and the rail service was slowly run down.

From time to time, there were proposals to boost public transport but these joined the list of plans that went nowehere such as:

  • An underground rail link for Auckland  proposed in 1923 by then Railways Minister Gordon Coates
  • Mayor Sir Dove-Myer Robinson- who held the reins from 1959 to 1965 and from 1968 to 1980, pushed for rapid rail as the backbone of the region’s public transport  with buses connecting to train stations and feeding the local areas. He became a lonely voice.
  • In July 1973 the Labour government agreed to fund the cost of the electrification of the railway network between Auckland and Papakura, and an underground rail loop from downtown, via the central city to Newmarket. The proposed inner-city loop included an underground station on the Britomart site.
  • The National government decided in 1976 that the rapid-transport system was too costly and unjustified so they cancelled the projects. And Auckland’s inadequate rail network, for years run by elderly unreliable diesel trains, was woefully neglected.

Auckland’s now neglected central railway station, in the Strand in Parnell near Mechanics Bay, is symbolic of how things got so run down.

The railway station was moved from its downtown Britomart location in 1930 to this spot in Parnell. Built in 1930, the grand three-storey building is described by the Historic Places Trust as :

“one of the most self-consciously monumental public buildings erected in early twentieth-century New Zealand – a powerful statement on the importance of state-run transport in the Dominion (1907-1947).”

Built by the Public Works Department in 1928-1930, the ornate Beaux Arts-style building was intended to stand as a gateway to the city, and its construction involved the largest independent contract issued in New Zealand at £320,000.

Railways were important for the economic development of the country, and were often seen as symbolic of ‘progress’. Politicians and other important people would arrive at the three-storey building by driving up a sweeping ramp on either side of the building, enclosing a landscaped garden immediately to the front.

The tracks – used only very rarely in recent years for an enthusiasts’ trip, often on steam locomotives -  have seen better days. In 1999, the Auckland Railway Station was converted into apartments for students but in 2008, Auckland University terminated a contract to lease the block after problems with leaking. Extensive repairs were needed.

The platforms where well-dressed locals had been farewelled by their family and friends for the gruelling all-night long trip to the capital are now part of what looks like a dump site.  The area is used for short-term car parking.The place is a shadow of its former self.

HISTORY PART 2 - TRAINS ARRIVE