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The Strand railway station is back ready for use.
The platforms developed in case needed during the Rugby World Cup were commissioned over the weekend.
Two sections of the old canopy on one of the 5 platforms were kept and paths put in for passengers to use if Britomart became unavailable (such as because of a bomb scare) during the tournament. This way rail services could still run to Kingsland. And longer-term it may become the final stop for a Waikato-Auckland service as Britomart can not accommodate them.
The station served Auckland as its Parnell-based main Auckland railway station for 70 years.
This is how it looked before work started.
9 Comments
Seeing how often we still seem to have Britomart issues, I’d like them to use the Strand for everyday emergency use. Surely most passengers will prefer having to walk 800m extra to being stuck for half an hour or more…
Are trains kept waiting outside Britomart for over 30 minutes? Thank goodness it has never happened to me.
But it is a shame to see that infrastructure not being used. Is there enough demand for the old station to be used? What with slots into/out of Britomart being at a premium? I know there was a half-hearted attempt to get some trains starting and terminating there some time ago, but it quickly stopped.
I used to live up Anzac Avenue and the old station was closer than Britomart.
“Are trains kept waiting outside Britomart for over 30 minutes?”
Sometimes much longer, if there’s a signal or a train failure. We should be over the first type of issue soon, with the new signalling, but we will have to cope with the second for a few more years, until we get new trains (“Waiting for Godot” - eh, I mean, Mr Joyce).
As for the use of the Strand - people are amazingly sensitive to just a little longer walk. So yeah, it just doesn’t seem to work at the Strand comapred to Britomart. We may have to use it for trains like a Hamilton Connection, but it’s not great.
With the Electric trains, seeing that they can pull in and out of Britomart quicker, and the new signalling, which should make for more efficient train movement, won’t there be enough room to slot just the one Hamilton train in the morning, and one in the afternoon?
whats with all the poles on that middle platform? please tell me they aren’t going to put up a fence there?
@ Jon - how far is this “island” platform from the actual station it self?
sorry has been a long time since I have been near the strand, just trying to picture were this actual “platform” is.
The station wasn’t commissioned over the weekend, but the extra track and signals were. The station still has quite a bit of work to go yet.
Carl, the platform IS the station. There are no buildings as such. The poles are for a fence. Fances are being built on both platforms, and entry points are being gated. I’m not sure if the station will be of any use for sorting out day to day problems, as the station isn’t being designed in a manner where it could be brought into use quickly. It’s basically going to be locked down in the normal course of events.
@ geoff, all good I actually meant the old station building, but since having read through the rest of the stories it is totally closed.
I figured there would be fences, but hrm, not cool. I do hope this waikato service gets up and running and they fix this station up.
The old station has been converted into cheap & nasty apartments.