Auckland Railway Station is the former main railway station of Auckland, New Zealand, and is located on the eastern edge of the Auckland CBD near Mechanics Bay. It was a city landmark from the time it was opened in 1930, and is a grand architectural statement in beaux-arts brick and mortar, having been called "one of the most self-consciously monumental public buildings erected in early twentieth-century New Zealand". The building was designed by William Henry Gummer (1884–1966), a student of Sir Edward Lutyens and architect of various notable New Zealand buildings such as the Dilworth Building in Queen Street.
The station closed in late July 2003 when services were moved to the new Britomart Transport Centre. The former platform 4 (Platform 7 at time of opening) of the station has been retained for excursion use as The Strand, named after a nearby street; it continued to be used by a limited number of peak-hour suburban trains for a few months following the opening of Britomart.
The remaining platforms of the former station may be to be removed as part of ONTRACK's redevelopment of Quay Park junction, with the area used identified as a possible storage area for suburban trains between peak times. However, in September 2011, two platforms were re-developed to prepare the station for possible emergency use during Rugby World Cup 2011. The platforms were not utilised for this purpose, but may be used for future rail routes.
Read more about Auckland Railway Station: Present Day
Famous quotes containing the words railway and/or station:
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“With boys you always know where you stand. Right in the path of a hurricane. It’s all there. The fruit flies hovering over their waste can, the hamster trying to escape to cleaner air, the bedrooms decorated in Early Bus Station Restroom.”
—Erma Bombeck (20th century)