Maungawhau railway station, formerly known as Mount Eden railway station, is a Western Line station of the Auckland railway network in the

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

suburb of

Mount Eden Mount Eden is a suburb in Auckland, New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Z ...

in New Zealand. The station has been closed since 2020 and is currently undergoing an extensive reconstruction as part of the wider work on the

City Rail Link The City Rail Link (CRL) is a rail project currently under construction in Auckland, New Zealand. The project consists of a double-track rail tunnel underneath Auckland's city centre, between Britomart and Maungawhau (Mount Eden) railway st ...

. The station is due to reopen to the public in early 2026. The reconstruction work is adding another

island platform An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway inte ...

on the City Rail Link line toward Karanga-a-Hape railway station in addition to upgrading existing island platform on the line towards Grafton station. The station was reached via a footbridge from Mount Eden Road or from the

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line or the road etc. crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, o ...

between Ngahura Street and Fenton Street.

History

* 1880: Opened as one of the original stations on the

North Auckland Line The North Auckland Line (designation NAL) is a major section of New Zealand's Rail transport in New Zealand, national rail network, and is made up of the following parts: the portion of track that runs northward from Westfield Junction to Newm ...

.''Railway Stations of Auckland's Western Line'' (2004) by Sean Millar * 1912: The present

and a new station building were constructed. * 1914: A

signal box A signal is both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing, information theory and biology. In ...

was established. * 1964: Lost much school traffic when some trains began to stop at St Peter's College (at the now closed Boston Road station and its replacement, the nearby Grafton station). * 1967: Following the introduction of centralised traffic control, the signal box was removed. * Mid-1990s: The old station building was sold and removed, and is now located further up the track, past Morningside station, and is in use as a private home. * 2004: An upgraded station was opened. * 2019: An announcement that the station will be closed for four years from June 2020 for improvement as part of work for the

starts. * 2020: Following a delay caused by the

COVID-19 lockdown During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions), were implemented in numero ...

, Mt Eden Station closed on 11 July * 2023: The name of the station was officially changed from Mount Eden Station to Maungawhau Railway Station * 2026: The planned opening year for

operation.

City Rail Link

Auckland Transport Auckland Transport (AT) is the council-controlled organisation (CCO) of Auckland Council responsible for transport projects and services. It was established by section 38 of the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009, and operates under ...

(AT) changed their

plans by removing the proposed Newton station and instead adding another platform at Mount Eden with a trench-styled layout similar to New Lynn railway station. The benefit, according to the Mayor of Auckland

Len Brown Leonard Charles Brown (born 1 October 1956)) is a former mayor of Auckland, New Zealand, and former head of the Auckland Council. He won the 2010 Auckland mayoral election on 9 October 2010 and was sworn in as Mayor of Auckland on 1 November 2 ...

, was a saving of NZD$150 million. AT chairman

Lester Levy Lester Levy (born 1954) is a South African-born New Zealand business leader, professor, and medical doctor. Since 2019, he has been Professor of Digital Health Leadership at Auckland University of Technology. Levy is a prominent figure in he ...

said that there had been concerted effort to optimise the design and reduce construction cost. "The change that has resulted from this focus will reduce cost by removing the very deep Newton station, which will also reduce construction disruption in upper Symonds St by 12 to 18 months. The improved design will connect passengers at Mt Eden Station to the CRL which previously bypassed them and improve operation reliability through the provision of a separated east-west junction so train lines won’t need to cross over each other." Levy said the changes also will result in an improved customer experience with the CRL platform at Mount Eden to be built in a trench similar to the New Lynn station, and be open to the sky, rather than deep underground as was the case for the proposed Newton station location. This open air location and the separated train junction will also lower operating costs. To allow the CRL to connect to the west toward Swanson and to the east toward Newmarket, Mount Eden station closed on 11 July 2020. The Western Line was realigned between Dominion Road and Mount Eden Prison, with consequent changes to overhead line and signalling systems. In October 2019, demolition of 30 buildings in the station vicinity commenced. This first of three phases of demolition was expected to be completed in March 2020. The new station is currently under construction and is due to open in 2026.

Bus transfers

Maungawhau Station is serviced by routes 64, 25B, 25L, 27H, 27W, 27T, and the express services 274, 275, and 277 between central Auckland and

Auckland Airport Auckland Airport is an international airport serving Auckland, the most populous city of New Zealand. It is the largest and busiest airport in the country, with over 18.7 million passengers served in the year ended December 2024. The airpor ...

Signal box

The Mt Eden Local Control Panel was installed in the station building in 1967 and removed from service in 1995 when the station building was removed. The panel has been preserved in working order.

References

External links