Onehunga Branch
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The Onehunga Branch railway line is in a branch line in Auckland, New Zealand. The line was constructed by the Auckland Provincial Government and opened in 1873. The line is 3.41km in length and runs from Penrose Train Station to Onehunga. It was extended to the Onehunga Wharf in 1878. It was one of the first government funded railways in New Zealand.
The last scheduled passenger service on this line ran in April 1973. Currently there is no rail traffic on this line and the line has been mothballed between Mays Road and Onehunga Wharf, and is in very poor condition.
The Onehunga railway station was originally located on the corner of Princes Street and Onehunga Mall. The station building has been relocated to 38 Alfred Street, not far from its original location. It is now owned by the Railway Enthusiasts Society and is used as their clubrooms and as a railway museum. Other stations on the line were located at Te Papapa and Onehunga Wharf.
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[edit] Reopening
The Campaign for Better Transport campaigned to reopen the line, with new stations at Mt Smart, Te Papapa and Onehunga, and in mid 2006 received 8,000 signatures on a petition signed by people wanting the line to be reopened. The petition was presented to the Auckland Regional Council, who presented it to their subsidiary, the Auckland Regional Transport Authority, recommending that rail passenger services should be started to both Onehunga and to Helensville. The petition was later handed back by ARTA to the ARC, with ARTA stating that the track was the responsibility of government track company, ONTRACK. The petition was then presented to the Government. On 13 March 2007, the Government announced it had given approval to ONTRACK to spend $10million reopening the line for passengers and freight. The line is expected to be open by 2009 [1].
[edit] Future extension
From time to time the possible extension of the line to the Auckland International Airport has been proposed. The main issue for such an extension has been the crossing of Manukau harbour between Onehunga and Mangere Bridge. Recently Transit New Zealand, the government entity charged with building and maintaining motorways and highways in New Zealand, has announced that a new bridge across the harbour may be designed to accommodate rail [2].
There has also been a proposal for a line connecting the Southdown freight terminal to the Western line near Avondale, the Avondale - Southdown line. The New Zealand Railways Corporation owns most of the corridor, which leaves the Western line east of Avondale station and follows an empty corridor along Oakley Creek, meeting up with the Onehunga branch next to State Highway 20 (Hugh Watt Drive).
[edit] References
- ^ The Beehive: Onehunga rail upgrade gets green light - 13 March 2007Source
- ^ Transit opens door to cross-harbour rail link to airport - New Zealand Herald, Friday 9 February 2007
[edit] External links
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