Location Parnell, Auckland Platforms Side platform Platform levels 1 Level 1 | Line(s) Newmarket Line Tracks Mainline (2) Opened 12 March 2017 | |
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Owned by Auckland Transport, KiwiRail Owners Auckland Transport, KiwiRail Similar The Strand Station, Newmarket Railway Station - N, Puhinui Railway Station, Otahuhu Railway Station, Papakura Railway Station | ||
Parnell Railway Station is a station serving the inner-city suburb of Parnell in Auckland, New Zealand. It is situated on the Newmarket Line, approximately 600m north of Parnell Tunnel, and is located in the Waipapa Valley adjacent to Auckland Domain. It is served by Southern Line trains, as well as Western Line trains during evenings and weekends. Onehunga Line trains currently pass through the station without stopping.
Contents
The station opened on 12 March 2017 with relatively basic facilities and initially serving a limited number of lines. Future development will involve building a pedestrian bridge across the tracks to provide step-free access to the platforms, and constructing several new paths to provide more direct access to Auckland Domain, Parnell Town Centre and the University of Auckland.
The station will eventually be served by all three lines which pass through it once the Sarawia Street level crossing in Newmarket is removed, which will remove the signalling constraints which currently affect the line. A bridge will be built to replace the level crossing, linking Laxon Terrace with nearby Cowie Street.
History
After a plan to lease part of the area as a bus depot was cancelled, KiwiRail and Auckland Council were asked in 2010 by the outgoing Auckland Regional Council to make an early start on construction of the proposed station, which was to cost $13 million or more, to ensure that there would not need to be costly extra work after the electrification of the line as part of the Auckland railway electrification. It was proposed that several million dollars saved during the upgrade of the Newmarket station be allocated to this new station.
An early proposal was to integrate the new station with some of the historic railway workshop sheds of the adjacent Mainline Steam depot but nothing eventuated. The Mainline Steam Heritage Trust had its lease on the depot terminated by KiwiRail and completed its move from the site in June 2015. The sheds were demolished in September 2015.
The heritage station building from the Newmarket station (a historic Vogel station opened in 1908 and removed during recent upgrades) is a feature of the station. Relocation of the building was planned for December 2016 and external refurbishment works are expected to be finished by April 2017.
In late 2015, Auckland Transport advised that opening the Parnell station to passenger services was being postponed until the completion of a road bridge at Cowie Street, replacing the nearby level crossing on Sarawia Street. AT received approval from independent planning commissioners in June 2016. The following November, the commissioners' recommendation for the bridge was appealed. If AT is unable to address the concerns expressed in the appeal, an Environment Court hearing (most likely in early 2017) will decide whether the appeal should be upheld.
Trains began operating at the station on 12 March 2017, with an official opening by Mayor of Auckland, Phil Goff, and Waitematā Local Board chair Pippa Coom on 13 March 2017.
Station layout
The station is located next to Auckland Domain. Its two side platforms are linked by an underpass.
Future work will provide walking links to the Doman and the campuses of the University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology.