Hamilton Central railway station, New Zealand explained

Hamilton Central
Country:	New Zealand
Coordinates:	-37.7869°N 175.2786°W
Owned:	KiwiRail
Line:	East Coast Main Trunk (goods only)
Platform:	1
Other:	North Island Main Trunk
Opened:	1 October 1884^[1]
Closed:	1 November 1969
Rebuilt:	1964
Former:	Hamilton West until 1 March 1899

Hamilton Central was the name of a now-defunct railway station on the East Coast Main Trunk line which runs through the city of Hamilton in the Waikato region of New Zealand.^[2] The station was located in Hamilton's CBD and was made an underground station for the latter years of its existence before being closed. The underground platform still exists.^[3]

For most of the time since a station opened on the site in 1879, it was named Hamilton. It had closed to regular passenger services when the present Hamilton station opened in 1975, so there was little need for formal renaming. There have been several proposals to reopen the station, often using the name 'Hamilton Central'.^{[4] [5]}

The East Coast Main Trunk line is still well used by freight trains. In 2018, 163 trains a week passed through, 36 between 8am and 5pm weekdays, 90 of them outside those hours and 37 at weekends.^[6]

History

The station probably opened as Hamilton on 22 March 1879, with a lean-to station building,^[7] though in July 1879 it was said that it should take about a month to complete the extension.^[8] It only had 282 passengers in the year 1880/81^[9] and closed on 19 February 1881.^[10] Probably it was affected by delays in opening Claudelands bridge; the 16ch73ch Eureka contract to Morrinsville was signed on 5 December 1883,^[11] though tenders had been invited over two years earlier.^[12]

On 1 October 1884 the station reopened as Hamilton West,^[13] when the Morrinsville line opened.^[14] By 1884 it had a 4th class station building, platform, cart approach, 60feet by 30feet goods shed and loading bank. In 1896 there was also a stationmaster's house, urinals and a passing loop for 38 wagons. In 1892 the station got improved and increased accommodation, with further improvements in 1897, 1899 and 1900, when a verandah was added.

The station was renamed Hamilton from 1 March 1899.^[15] In 1902 it was described as being, "of wood and iron, and has a ladies' waiting room, a public lobby, stationmaster's room, a long passenger platform, and a large goods shed. Four trains pass the station daily, each way."^[16] In 1905 the stationmaster's house was shifted and a porters room, parcels office and store added. The luggage room and verandah were extended in 1909. A crossing keeper controlled the Victoria Street crossing from 1912, when the platform was extended 200feet west and asphalted. In 1924 a new, larger storeroom at the Frankton end replaced one at the other end.

Work to underground the station began in 1961, with removal of sidings, a loading shelter and the goods shed. The line was lowered in 1964. Its platform was moved to a cutting from 1 September 1964. It lost its railcar service to Te Puke on 11 September 1967 and to Rotorua on 11 November 1968. It then lost its station building, which is now a café at Waikato University.^[17] In 1969 a new 3-storey, 23700ft2 Administration Building opened, built by Holm Construction Ltd. for the Ministry of Works and linked by a covered walkway to the Road Services terminal in Ward Street and the underground rail platform. By the mid-1970s most of the station had been covered by carparks, which were later covered by the Centre Place shopping centre.^[18] When the current Hamilton station opened on 6 August 1975, the rarely used platform was renamed Hamilton Travel Centre.

The station was once served by several named trains, including the Rotorua, Geyserland, Thames and Taneatua Expresses.Traffic grew to a peak in World War 2, as shown in the graph and table below.

year	tickets	season tickets	staff	ref.
1885	2,554	1	2	^[19]
1886	5,253		2	^[20]
1887	5,246		1	^[21]
1888	3,687	16	2
1889	3,504	29	2	^[22]
1890				^[23]
1891	3,328	31	2	^[24]
1892	3,348	26	2	^[25]
1893	3,702	38	2	^[26]
1894	3,748	25	2	^[27]
1895	3,958		2	^[28]
1896	4,034	9	2	^[29]
1897	4,447	7	2	^[30]
1898	4,766	3	2	^[31]
1899	5,303	2	2	^[32]
1900	4,838	1	3	^[33]
1901
1902	8,486	1	3	^[34]
1903	11,358	4	4	^[35]
1904	17,454	4	5	^[36]
1905	19,885	126	6	^[37]
1906	22,461	140	6	^[38]
1907	25,893	212	7	^[39]
1908	32,446	207	8	^[40]
1909	35,357	202	8	^[41]
1910	32,874	208	9	^[42]
1911	35,269	150	9	^[43]
1912	39,339	228	11	^[44]
1913	49,704	275	16	^[45]
1914	51,322	338		^[46]
1915	48,465	387		^[47]
1916	46,658	424		^[48]
1917	48,529	466		^[49]
1918	50,899	416		^[50]
1919	59,170	339		^[51]
1920	64,708	343		^[52]
1921	70,815	449		^[53]
1922	73,303	567		^[54]
1923	71,486	589		^[55]
1924	67,103	559		^[56]
1925	59,705	435		^[57]
1926	53,862	601		^[58]
1927	49,481	618		^[59]
1928	43,819	514		^[60]
1929	43,922	606		^[61]
1930	39,431	661		^[62]
1931	59,360	567		^[63]
1932	51,558	500		^[64]
1933	55,308	503		^[65]
1934	61,842	518		^[66]
1935	65,478	547		^[67]
1936	68,877	638		^[68]
1937	73,951	578		^[69]
1938	69,537	568		^[70]
1939	63,611	527		^[71]
1940	62,829	873		^[72]
1941	75,496	481		^[73]
1942	100,724	385		^[74]
1943	156,825	387		^[75]
1944	153,740	418		^[76]
1945	84,973	269		^[77]
1946	83,363	252		^[78]
1947	49,293	144		^[79]
1948	38,902	56		^[80]
1949	34,925	64		^[81]
1950	42,813	49		^[82]

New Zealand's first underground station

Level crossings at Lake Rd, Seddon St and Victoria St, and rising population and levels of rail and road traffic, resulted in re-routing proposals from 1912, when council suggested the line could be lowered. It was turned down again in 1919,^[83] proposed as a diversion south of Frankton in 1929^[84] and costed at £529,000 in 1938.

The National Roads Board then opted for it and, in September 1959, the Ministry of Works started the project. The platform was lowered about 20feet into a cut & cover tunnel approached on 1 in 80 gradients,^[85] with road over-bridges at River Rd, Tristram/Hinemoa, Seddon Streets and Lake Rd. The new route and platform opened on 19 September 1964, after which Anglesea St was extended north of Ward St.

An NZR bus station (replaced by the Transport Centre in 2001) was built on top of the station, with a ramp link to it. The underground station was used by the Kaimai Express and Geyserland Express from when they started running in December 1991 until 1994 when the station was closed due to vandalism and concerns about passenger safety. The ramp was closed when the Warehouse was built^[86] in 2004,^[87] though a plan had been prepared to maintain access.^[88]

In 2020 reopening, possibly with 3 tracks and possibly just to the west, in Seddon Park,^[89] was put forward as a COVID-19 recovery scheme, as part of schemes to upgrade services to Auckland and relay tracks to Cambridge.^[90]

External links

• 1905 express at station, which now has a canopy and lights
• 1938 aerial view showing Anglesea St ending at the station
• 1965 low level platform and ramp to the original station building and station building
• NZR bus station, built on top of station
• underground platform with working lights and little graffiti

Notes and References

1. Web site: Juliet Scoble: Names & Opening & Closing Dates of Railway Stations in New Zealand . 5 May 2018 . 24 July 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200724032358/http://www.railheritage.org.nz/assets/dates_and_names.pdf . dead .
2. Web site: Jamie Strange MP. www.facebook.com. en. 4 May 2018.
3. Book: New Zealand Railway and Tramway Atlas. Yonge. John Roger. Company. Quail Map. 1993. Quail Map Company. 9780900609923. en.
4. Web site: Politicians unlock doors to New Zealand's first underground train station. Stuff. en. 2 May 2018.
5. News: Regional Rapid Rail – Hamilton Central Station. 3 April 2018. Greater Auckland. 5 May 2018. en-US.
6. Web site: Notice of Meeting. 27 March 2018. Waikato Regional Council.
7. Web site: Stations. https://web.archive.org/web/20210209105947/http://railheritage.org.nz/assets/Heritage_listings.pdf. 9 February 2021. 2020-08-10. NZR Rolling Stock Lists. en. dead.
8. Web site: New Zealand Herald, 1879-07-16. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. en. 2018-11-11.
9. Web site: Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives 1881 Session I RETURN No. 9. Statement of Revenue and Expenditure of each Station for the Year ending 31 March 1881. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. en. 5 May 2018.
10. Web site: Scoble. Juliet. 2010. Names & Opening & Closing Dates of Railway Stations. https://web.archive.org/web/20200724032358/http://www.railheritage.org.nz/assets/dates_and_names.pdf. 24 July 2020. Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand. dead.
11. Web site: 24 Oct 1884. PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT, BY THE MINISTER FOR PUBLIC WORKS, THE HON. EDWARD RICHARDSON. 2021-04-29. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
12. Web site: 31 May 1881. WAIKATO TIMES. 2021-04-30. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
13. Web site: 18 Oct 1884. TE AROHA NEWS. 2021-04-30. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
14. Web site: 26 Sep 1884. AUCKLAND STAR. 2021-04-29. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
15. Web site: Hamilton railway station. Hamilton. 4 May 2018.
16. Web site: Hamilton. 1902. nzetc.victoria.ac.nz. 5 May 2018.
17. Web site: The University of Waikato 1964–2014.
18. Web site: The Government Life building under construction. Hamilton. 5 May 2018.
19. Web site: RETURN No. 10. STATEMENT of Revenue and Expenditure of each Station for the Twelve Months ending 31st March, 1885. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. en. 29 May 2017.
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21. Web site: RETURN No. 10. STATEMENT of Revenue and Expenditure of each Station for the Twelve Months ending 31st March, 1887. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. en. 29 May 2017.
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56. Web site: RETURN No. 12. Statement of Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1924. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. en. 29 May 2017.
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59. Web site: STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1927. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. en. 29 May 2017.
60. Web site: STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1928. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. en. 29 May 2017.
61. Web site: STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1929. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. en. 29 May 2017.
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74. Web site: STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1942. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. en. 29 May 2017.
75. Web site: STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1943. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. en. 29 May 2017.
76. Web site: STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1944. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. en. 29 May 2017.
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79. Web site: STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1947. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. en. 29 May 2017.
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81. Web site: STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1949. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. en. 29 May 2017.
82. Web site: STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1950. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. en. 29 May 2017.
83. Web site: Hamilton's underground railway. Hamilton. 4 May 2018.
84. News: Traffic at Hamilton.. 12 November 1929. New Zealand Herald. 5 May 2018. 12.
85. Web site: Proposals for lowering of railway line under Victoria Street. 1954. Hamilton. 5 May 2018.
86. Web site: bettertransport.org.nz – Hamilton Central Station (underground) CBD. www.bettertransport.org.nz. en-gb. 5 May 2018.
87. News: Warehouse says red tape may end $20m Hamilton store plans. 27 January 2004. NZ Herald. 5 May 2018. en-NZ. 1170-0777.
88. Book: Warren Clarke Ltd. Underground Rail Platform Access Plans and Sections. 2004.
89. Web site: Hamilton to Auckland Passenger Rail Start-up Service Enhancements. April 2020. Hamilton City Council.
90. Web site: URBAN GROWTH PROGRAMME INITIATIVES. 3 April 2020. Hamilton City Council. 19 April 2020. 29 April 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200429061005/https://www.hamilton.govt.nz/our-city/covid-19/recovery-package/Documents/URBAN%20GROWTH%20PROGRAMME%20INITIATIVES%20Hamilton%20to%20Auckland%20Corridor%20and%20Hamilton-Waikato%20Metro%20Spatial%20Plan%20April%202020.PDF. dead.