Opened 12 October 1874 | Rebuilt 1989 | |
Location Station Road then Munroe Street, Napier
New Zealand Owned by New Zealand Railways Department Line(s) Palmerston North–Gisborne Closed 7 October 2001 (2001-10-07) (passengers) Owner New Zealand Railways Department | ||
The Napier Railway Station in Napier, New Zealand was the main railway station in Napier and an intermediate stop on the Palmerston North–Gisborne Line. On 12 October 1874 the station and the first section of the line south from Napier to Hastings was opened. The line through the Manawatu Gorge to Palmerston North and hence to Wellington was opened on 9 March 1891.
The line north of Napier to Gisborne was opened on 3 August 1942, with passenger services from 7 September. Napier was the terminus for both Gisborne and Wellington goods trains, though some passenger trains ran straight through. This section north was mothballed in 2012.
The original Napier station building was on the corner of Station Street and Millar Street, close to the centre of Napier. The facilities on the site increased to include the passenger station plus a goods yard, locomotive depot, workshop and a way and works branch. The line was on a curve and difficult to work, and the site was limited by level crossings at each end and with no room for expansion.
Hence in a two-year programme to 1991 most functions followed the Way and Works to Pandora Point, at the start of the Ahuriri Branch, leaving only a new InterCity coach and train terminal on the city site, fronting Munroe Street. The old station was closed on 6 October 1990, and was replaced by a new station on 9 June 1991. The existing station and three-story administrative block built in the late 1950s and early 1960s were demolished and some three hectares of land was available for retail development.
A marshalling yard, freight terminal, locomotive depot and other facilities were established at Pandora Point, with a triangle provided to turn trains and giving direct access north and south from the port branch. The Ahuriri yard was closed. The old main line north to Gisborne was realigned to the east to allow a new link road to the Tamatea area of Napier, and railways land was redeveloped as an industrial subdivision.
On 7 October 2001 the Bay Express from Wellington to Napier was cancelled and passenger services on the line ceased.