Newmarket Train Station

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Newmarket Train Station is on the Southern and Western Lines of the Auckland railway network. It has an island platform, reached by a ramp from Remuera Road (opposite Nuffield Street) and from the end of Joseph Banks Terrace by a pedestrian overbridge. The pedestrian overbridge from Broadway has recently been closed due to construction works.

[edit] History

The railway station building was one of four island platform stations in Auckland designed and built by George Troup, Chief Engineer for the New Zealand Railways Department. The station was built in 1908, at the time of the installation of double track. The signal box further along the platform was built at the same time and is one of the few of that era in New Zealand on its original site and still in operation.

[edit] Layout

This station is near Newmarket Junction, the junction of the Western and Southern Lines. Trains coming from Britomart have to run past the junction to call at thes station. Then trains reverse back into a special siding, which then allows the train to enter the Western Line.

The station has only two platforms. For many years all city-bound trains stopped at one platform, with outwards trains stopping at the other platform. This was confusing as the outward-bound platform served all trains on both the Southern and Western Lines. This problem was solved by 'splitting' the platform into two: Southern Line trains stopped at the southern end of the platform, and Western Line ones at the northern end. However the platform was short, so that this did not always resolve the confusion.

In recent months, the above practise has been been dropped due to the higher frequency of trains, and train control direct trains to whichever platform is free at the time of arrival. This means any trains can arrive at any platform without any prior warnning. Off-peak, train control usually follow the traditional practice, but during the peak this is not practical, so passengers are often confused as to which train runs on which line.

[edit] Patronage

This station is the second-busiest train station in Auckland, after Britomart.^[1] All express services stop at here, including the Pukekohe and Waitakere expresses.

[edit] Station Upgrade

Redevelopment plans for Newmarket station are currently complete. The majority of proposed works centre around improving connections between the station and the surrounding commercial and residential areas and bringing the station's appearance and facilities up to modern standards. Integral to the redevelopment is the requirement to reorganise the trackwork servicing the station. The site is some distance downstream from the junction of the western and southern lines despite serving both, necessitating western line trains travelling in either direction to perform a reversal manoeuvre. The current proposal features twin island platforms with three tracks. The outer faces of each platform would serve westbound and southbound trains respectively. The centre track, accessible from the inner faces of both platforms would service citybound trains from both the west and the south.

Controversy exists over the proposed scale of the redevelopment, with various groups calling for a substantial upgrade reflecting the stations position as the second busiest in Auckland, while others want a more affordable and basic redevelopment to take place.

The fate of the historically and architecturally significant old station building is also controversial, with various proposals to demolish, refurbish, relocate elsewhere in the station or remove the building to a separate location entirely.

[edit] References

1. ^ Passenger Railway Stations of Auckland's Southern Line 2005 by Sean Millar

Railway Stations on the Southern Line (Full List)
Britomart • Newmarket • Remuera • Greenlane • Ellerslie • Penrose • Westfield • Otahuhu • Mangere • Middlemore • Papatoetoe • Puhinui • Homai • Manurewa • Te Mahia • Takanini • Papakura • Pukekohe