Rotokauri Transport Hub | |||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Regional Rail, Bus | |||||||||||||||||||||
General information | |||||||||||||||||||||
Location | New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 37°44′45″S175°13′36″E / 37.745950°S 175.226539°E | ||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 33 m (108 ft) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Line(s) | North Island Main Trunk | ||||||||||||||||||||
Distance | Wellington 547.83 km (340.41 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Tracks | 2 (doubled from 30 June 1929) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Construction | |||||||||||||||||||||
Parking | yes | ||||||||||||||||||||
Other information | |||||||||||||||||||||
Status | Currently open | ||||||||||||||||||||
Website | Te Huia - Rotokauri | ||||||||||||||||||||
History | |||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | 19 December 1877 original 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Closed | 10 January 1971 [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Rebuilt | 2018–2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Previous names | Te Rapa Railway Station | ||||||||||||||||||||
Services | |||||||||||||||||||||
|
Rotokauri railway station (formerly Te Rapa railway station), also known as The Hub, is a railway station, park and ride, and bus station in north Hamilton, New Zealand serving Rotokauri and Te Rapa. [2] Located on the North Island Main Trunk, it was previously a flag station, and was closed in January 1971. [3] It reopened as an integrated transport hub in 2021 as part of Te Huia services between Hamilton and Papakura [4] (extended to The Strand in 2022). [5] Services started on 6 April 2021. [6] [7]
Opening with the Newcastle to Hamilton extension of the railway from Auckland on Wednesday 19 December 1877, [8] Te Rapa railway station was originally 3 mi (4.8 km) south of Horotiu (then named Pukete) and 3 mi (4.8 km) north of Hamilton [9] on the NIMT. A through siding was added in 1878, it appeared in the April 1879 timetable [10] and, by 1884, it had a passing loop for 21 wagons, a shelter shed, platform and loading bank. [11]
In 1916, it was equipped with distant signals [12] and was part of the extension of automatic signalling from Ngāruawahiā to Frankton from Sunday 30 June 1929, [13] when the sidings were switch-locked and automatically controlled [14] and the former single track doubled. [15] The sidings were extended into the RNZAF stores depot, to the south east, when it was built during the war [16] There were also bulk cement and Apple & Pear Board sidings. [15]
In July 1965 it was noted that, for the past nine months, passenger bookings had been nil and, in September, approval was given to remove the station building and low-level platform. Construction of a new marshalling yard near the Racecourse began in December 1967. [11]
Modern plans for a transport hub in north Hamilton started around 2007 in the Rotokauri Structure Plan and District Plan. Eventually, land was bought in 2017, and funding for the transport hub was announced in the 2018-2028 10 Year Plan. [17]
At a meeting of the Hamilton Public Transport Joint Committee on November 28 2018, the Council estimated the cost of a new station, park and ride and transport hub at Rotokauri to be $21m, with $6.4m allowed to land purchasing. [18] The plan was for an integrated transit hub in north Hamilton to connect with a proposed Hamilton to Auckland passenger train. These plans were dependent on NZTA funding for both the train and the hub itself. At the time of the Joint Committee meeting in November 2018, the opening was scheduled for March 2020.
In 2019 the Sixth Labour Government announced funding for a passenger rail link between Auckland and Hamilton, at the time called Tron Express [19] but later called Te Huia. This funding included the construction of a transport hub in Rotokauri, alongside maintenance facilities. [20] In March 2020, the original planned opening date, Hamilton City Council announced new opening date of the park and ride scheme on August 3 2020, and an increased cost estimate of $29m, [21] this was planned to coincide with the commencement of Te Huia services. The new station was built just south of the site of the original station. [22] The March 2020 announcement also stated that the transit hub would have a rail platform, park and ride carpark, bus interchange, roading upgrades, passenger bridge and stairs. The council also highlighted a delay in lift installation was due to "due to international supply chain issues". [21]
On January 29 2020, a blessing ceremony was held at the transit hub ahead of its opening week. [23] The signs around the hub include both English Language and Reo Māori names. The station has two through-platforms, three lifts, and three sets of stairs. The over-bridge links the bus terminal, the platforms, and The Base shopping mall. The Hamilton City Council has purchased land next to the carpark in order to allow for a potential carpark expansion, or another development. [24] There have also been changes in the road layout around the hub, including the construction of a new road called Kiriwai Drive, named after a local (Kaumātua).
Currently the only train is Te Huia linking Hamilton to Auckland (stopping at Papakura, Puhinui, The Strand), four times daily on weekdays (two in each direction), and once each way on some Saturdays. These services started on 6 April 2021. [25] [7] These were the first passenger services since the original station closed. Even though the Northern Explorer passes through on the NIMT, it does not stop at this station.
Service | Time | Destination |
---|---|---|
Weekday | 6:23 a.m. | The Strand |
11:36 a.m. | Hamilton (Frankton) | |
2:15 p.m. | The Strand | |
7:38 p.m. | Hamilton (Frankton) | |
Saturday | 7:49 a.m. | The Strand |
8:05 p.m. | Hamilton (Frankton) |
Rotokauri Transport Hub is also a major point along several of Hamilton and Waikato's bus routes. It was planned that the hub would have 180 daily bus movements at the start, but this will increase to 400. [27]
In a fog in 1934, a southbound train from Auckland collided with a goods train. The only casualty was a pig, [28] but the AB locomotive was thrown on its side. [29]
The North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) is the main railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, connecting the capital city Wellington with the country's largest city, Auckland. The line is 682 kilometres (424 mi) long, built to the New Zealand rail gauge of 1,067 mm and serves the large cities of Palmerston North and Hamilton.
Ellerslie railway station serves the Southern and Onehunga Lines of the Auckland railway network in New Zealand. It was opened in 1873. It has an island platform and is 1.37 km (0.85 mi) south of Greenlane and 1.45 km (0.90 mi) north of Penrose.
Papakura railway station is a railway station in Papakura, New Zealand, on the Southern Line of the Auckland railway network.
Pukekohe railway station is a temporarily closed railway station in Pukekohe, New Zealand. It is the southern terminus of the Southern Line of the Auckland railway network. The station has an island platform between the main lines and an original wooden station building complete with signal panel.
Te Rapa is a mixed light industrial, large-scale retail and semi-rural suburb to the northwest of central Hamilton, New Zealand that is built on a flat area that was previously the bed of an ancient river, the forerunner to the present Waikato River.
The Stratford–Okahukura Line (SOL) is a secondary railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, between the Marton - New Plymouth Line (MNPL) and the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) Railway, with 15 intermediate stations. It is 144 km (89 mi) long through difficult country, with 24 tunnels, 91 bridges and a number of sections of 1 in 50 grade. Near Okahukura there is an unusual combined road-rail bridge over the Ongarue River, with the one-lane road carriageway below the single rail track. The line is not currently in service for rail traffic and is under a 30-year lease for a tourist venture. In July 2019 KiwiRail's CEO stated that reopening the line was a priority. Minister of Transport Michael Wood announced the government's 10-year plan for rail investment on 6 May 2021, which specifically stated that plans could include re-opening the Stratford to Okahukura line.
Tironui railway station was a station on the North Island Main Trunk in New Zealand, south of Auckland between Takanini railway station and Papakura railway station. It had a station building and a 92 m (302 ft) long, 42 cm (17 in) high platform. Electric light was added in 1933. According to Scoble, it was opened on 10 May 1926 and closed on 13 August 1983.
Rukuhia railway station was a flag station on the North Island Main Trunk in New Zealand, located in the settlement of Rukuhia. It was established during an extension of the railway line in the 1870s. The service started with two trains a day.
State Highway 39 (SH 39) is a New Zealand state highway that forms a western bypass of the city of Hamilton. Gazetted in 1999, it is a generally quicker route to get between Auckland and New Plymouth as well as connecting to the Waitomo Caves, just south of the SH 39 southern terminus. The southernmost 14 km section has a concurrency with SH 31, as this highway has existed for much longer.
Te Awamutu was a temporary terminus, serving the border town of Te Awamutu, on the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) in New Zealand from 1880, when the line was extended from Ōhaupō, until 1887, when the line was extended south to Ōtorohanga.
Hamilton railway station serves the city of Hamilton in the Waikato region of New Zealand. It is located in the suburb of Frankton, hence the station's former name Frankton Junction, its name for most of its existence. The station is a Keilbahnhof, located at the junction of the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) and East Coast Main Trunk (ECMT) lines. The station is served by the regional Te Huia service, which runs to Auckland via Rotokauri Transport Hub and Huntly railway station twice daily in the morning, with return services in the evening.
Raahui Pookeka-Huntly Railway Station is on the North Island Main Trunk line and the Awaroa Branch in the town of Huntly in the Waikato District of New Zealand, 65 mi (105 km) south of Auckland. It is 7.31 km (4.54 mi) north of Taupiri and 2.78 km (1.73 mi) south of Kimihia. The station was named Raahui Pookeka-Huntly for its reopening for the new Te Huia train on 6 April 2021.
Tuakau railway station was a railway station in the town of Tuakau in the Waikato District of New Zealand.
Ngāruawāhia railway station was at the junction of the North Island Main Trunk line and its Glen Massey branch, serving Ngāruawāhia in the Waikato District of New Zealand, 74 mi (119 km) south of Auckland and 10 mi (16 km) north of Hamilton. It was opened with a special train from Auckland on Monday 13 August 1877. The next stations were Taupiri 6.5 km (4.0 mi) to the north and Horotiu 5.5 km (3.4 mi) to the south.
Ohinewai Railway Station was a flag station on the North Island Main Trunk line, serving Ohinewai in the Waikato District of New Zealand, 59 mi (95 km) south of Auckland. It was 8.18 km (5.08 mi) north of Huntly, 7.26 km (4.51 mi) south of Rangiriri and 33 ft (10 m) above sea level. It was in the village, just north of Tahuna Rd.
Te Huia is a passenger train service between Hamilton, Papakura, and Auckland in New Zealand. The service is a five-year trial with subsidies from the NZ Transport Agency and Waikato local authorities. The opening was delayed because of COVID-19 and the need to replace some rail track. A new starting date was announced, and the service began on 6 April 2021.
Tirohia is a rural community in the Hauraki District and Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It was one of the main areas used by Ngāti Hako, including Te Rae o te Papa pā. A bridge was built over the Waihou River in 1919.
Te Kauwhata was a flag station on the North Island Main Trunk line, in the Waikato District of New Zealand, 54 mi (87 km) south of Auckland. It was 591.52 km (367.55 mi) north of Wellington, 3.32 km (2.06 mi) north of Rangiriri, 6.72 km (4.18 mi) south of Whangamarino and 12 m (39 ft) above sea level.
Kopaki was a flag station on the North Island Main Trunk line, in the Waitomo District of New Zealand.
Paerātā railway station is an railway station under construction in Auckland, New Zealand. It is due to open in 2025 as part of the Auckland railway electrification project. It will serve the Paerata area, linking with the new Paerata Rise housing development. The station will be located on the existing North Island Main Trunk railway line, adjacent to the planned eastern extent of the development.