Joint ARTA and KiwiRail Media Release
13 January 2010

Transport Minister opens 21st Century Newmarket Train Station

The Minister of Transport, Steven Joyce, will join an array of Auckland dignitaries including Local Government Minister Rodney Hide and the Mayor of Auckland, John Banks, to officially open a state of the art new Newmarket train station at a special celebration hosted by the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) and KiwiRail on Thursday. Customers will begin using the new station from Monday 18th January when train services resume in Auckland after a three week period to enable redevelopment work to occur around the rail network.

ARTA’s Chief Executive, Fergus Gammie said “After Britomart, Newmarket is Auckland’s second busiest rail station. Around 3,500 people catch the train to or from Newmarket on a daily basis; by 2016 it is thought that 17,000 people a day will do so.”

In addition to the new station, KiwiRail has completed a complex new track layout at Newmarket Junction, where the key Southern and Western lines intersect.

The $65 million project included direct connections between Newmarket, the Western Line and Britomart, providing flexibility of services in every direction.

Brand new, insulated rail signals have been installed which are fully enabled for electrification and provide a greater level of reliability at this key junction on Auckland’s rail network.

“This station designed by Opus and constructed by Hawkins Construction and Coffey Group provides a contemporary, safe and aesthetically pleasing environment for customers to enjoy train travel with ease and style,” said Mr Gammie. “The new station is a stark contrast to the facilities the thousands of people visiting Newmarket had to previously endure.

“Customers will now be able to transfer between the Southern and Western lines, and connect to a number of bus services in the local area.

“The station itself is a self-ventilating, light and airy environment. A floating canopy extends over the concourse and lower level canopies create shelter over the platforms. A ticket office where customers can benefit from purchasing multiple-tickets or monthly passes is housed in the concourse and CCTV cameras and help points are situated throughout to ensure the safety of our customers.

“This is truly a station for the twenty-first century.” Mr Gammie said

“Auckland’s rail renaissance continues to be stimulated by ongoing improvements around the network. Patronage has increased 97% in the last 5 years and over 7.7 million trips were made in the last year alone.

“This year new stations will be delivered at Grafton, New Lynn and Avondale, the upgrade to Kingsland Station will be completed, the Onehungha branch line will be reopened, preparations for electric trains will be undertaken and further timetable improvements will build upon those made in recent years”.

ENDS

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