Subscribe to RSSHamilton Rail Petitioners Want Underground Station Re-Opened
The petition calling for a commuter rail link between Hamilton and Auckland will be presented to MPs at 930am on Monday at the Hamilton Railway Station, Fraser St, Frankton.
The Campaign for Better Transport has worked hard for four months and been rewarded by scoring over 10,000 signatures, most coming from Hamilton, Ngaruawahia and Huntly.
The group will also push for Hamilton’s central underground railway station to be reopened.
The station is located beneath The Warehouse on Victoria St, within 300 metres from Fonterra offices, Hamilton City Council and a number of other businesses in the CBD.
It is central- within 300 metres walk from Victoria Ave
The petition campaign manager Jon Reeves says it has largely been forgotten about. It is about 1km from the present Hamilton (Frankton) station.
Campaign manager Reeves explores the old underground station
He will release concept drawings to show the station could work to add to the appeal of commuter rail.
Not used since 1995 as a railway station
The “Waikato Trains Now!” petition will be presented to local Labour MP Sue Moroney, with Hamilton City and Environment Waikato councillors also invited along with central Government MPs.
Campaign manager Jon Reeves says the petition has been an overwhelming success and the final figure will exceed the 10,328 signatures the group collected in 2008 calling for an Auckland Airport rail service.
7 Comments
Not sure of the point of reopening the station for a commuter train to Auckland.
That train will rely on park and rides, so no point having an inner city station for that.
Once trains start running more frequently, or to Tauranga or Rotorua then the underground station will be a good idea.
I think the station is not needed at the moment but as demand increases it will be a great asset to re-instate. I would spend money on a park and ride at central station and also at the corner of Tasman Road and Avalon Drive if not enough space was available at the main station.
Luke, the proposal has trains running both ways for Auckland-Hamilton trips as well as Hamilton-Auckland - with stops in-between. This station would be critical to the success of this being a two-way operation with Hamilton as a destination for commuters and other travellers from Ngaruawahia, Huntly, Te Kauwhata.
This number of signatures could put significant pressure on the politicians.
I agree totally with the underground site, but it would need to developed in the future or future-proofed with more tracks. There have been proposals for commuter trains to and from Hamilton from places like Cambridge for a number of years.
The big problem with using this station, at least from an operational point of view must be the number of trains (and big trains at that) already using this line
Already there are nearly 2 trains per hour on the line, and there was talk in the latest Kiwirail newsletter of looking into 4 trains per hour, hence the new passing loops.
May need another loop built at Claudelands/Ruakura.
Are they still looking at a station near Claudelands?
@Luke The underground station is important in that commuters may come from other parts of Hamilton where the underground station is closer and also it is close to the central bus station. It is also right below the Warehouse and near the Central shopping area so if more services were introduced in the future and particular if local services to and from say Cambridge started.
Absolutely brilliant. Not only will it be handy to travel between Hamilton and Auckland but it will also revive Hamilton’s citycentre, now slowly getting deserted in favour of The Base