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What is this?
Grafton railway or train station? Does it matter?
I think of it as a train station.
And ARTA refers to it as such.
One of the things that has amused me (sometimes) or at least surprised me is the complaints I get off forum by email.
Some are simply mad.
Others are fair and rational.
One the other day was from a certain high ranking official whom I felt quite rightly thought some of the comments related to him on the forum had got a bit over the top and colourful.
Glad he at least reads the forum - but it does underline the point that if you want people to take notice of your comments, you need to watch your language.
Anyway back to the train station.
John Gilbert from UK ticks me off today:
Please don’t keep saying “Train Station.” Return to the until recently normal usage, “Railway Station.” John Gilbert
Sorry John. The signs point to a “train station” not railway station.
And to be frank, if that’s all we had to worry about with the rail infrastructure in Auckalnd, I’d be a very happy man.
17 Comments
If you don’t count Auckland Railway Station (the strand) and Wellington Railway Station as examples… Remuera, Newmarket, Ellerslie - they’ve all been called Train Stations, not Railway Stations… if we’re truly going to be anal about it. It’s called the Auckland Railway Network because it sounds better off the tongue. Try Remuera Railway Station and then tell me whether Grafton Railway Station is any different. The signage all over Auckland points to ‘Train Stations’. Even Britomart.
Its good to see the readership is diverse and taking note
Keep up the good work Jon C.
I look forward to my trip home to NZ this Xmas to checkout all the hard work that’s been put into the Auckland Rail “Network”
Well it is a bus stop and not a road stop.
Does it really matter as stated above.
Passenger trains were invented in England as I recall and stations were traditionally called railway stations and they were called train stations in America. In Europe I think railway stations are the norm eg Bahnhof.
Personally I prefer railway station being a traditionalist but I wont lose sleep seeing Train station as long as there is a service!
Which came first the railway or the train.
You cannot have a Train Station without a railway (because no trains could get to it) but you can have a Railway Station without a train (because the railway is next to the station)
However if it dose not have trains it can’t be a station.
Dam you John from the UK - having used either without thinking about it I’m now going to be up all night deciding which one to use.
Oh no - what about Railroad station.
Train is a shorter word
Railway Station has always been the term in New Zealand, and still is everywhere outside Auckland. The Train Station term only crept into Auckland in the late 90′s, when the local rail network ended up in local body hands and people from outside the rail industry started running things. It’s so entrenched now that KiwiRail have adopted it when referring to Auckland network stations, but they still use the railway station term everywhere else in New Zealand.
Obvious spelling mistake on my post ! Damn
How about a compromise
Forget Railway and Train, in the future we’ll just say I’m off to the station ( Yes Railway or Train Station will be identified by it’s name ie Britomart and so on ) Just another twist. More on a serious note All the New Stations are fantastic in the sense it makes one feel welcome.
I always thought ‘Train Station’ sounded more modern. ‘Railway’ sounds so old. I am glad Mr. Gilbert’s not in charge!
Railway station is much nicer though I don’t lose sleep about it. I think S. Joyce reads your blog because he had a bit of a whinge about pro rail blogs claiming pretty much that they were not in touch with reality. Keep up the good work.
On the contrary, I think the articles on this blog are very much in touch with reality. Perhaps the nature of some comments however that such a forum attracts unfortunately often sound myopic. Something his detractors often accuse Mr Joyce of being.
I do agree that Jon C does an excellent job.
If some one says either then I know what they mean. That’s all that matters. London = tube, metro, underground, subway. It’s all one thing, I don’t tell people to call it something else.
who actually cares, the fact that they say “we don’t pay attention to people who use language” is a load crap.
who doesn’t swear or curse these days? all this PC stuff about being correct.
these people need to read the forums and take note of what ever day users are actually saying.
its very fine sitting in an office in your suit planning the future of railway, to then drive home, its another to actually use and pay for it day in and day out.
language or not, this is one of the most constructive forums i’ve ever posted on.
I agree. Sure, there’s some negativity, but some of that is “earned” by the rather negative attitude towards rail amongst some quarters - and thus acceptable as long as it doesn’t descend to name-calling (which, acknowledged, it sometimes does).
On the pro side, this blog celebrates things when they go right - and doesn’t stint on coverage of non-rail transport topics. Jon C obviously has his own opinions, but he’s doing a good job.
@ingolfson Thats kind of you.
Hey, gotta get my daily fix, might as well encourage you in continuing your work for all us transport nerds