Awarua Street Railway Station

Story

Awarua Street railway station is one of eight stations on the Johnsonville Branch, a branch railway north of Wellington in New Zealand’s North Island, and serves the suburb of Ngaio. It is one of two stations that were added to the line when it was upgraded prior to being reopened as the Johnsonville Branch, and one of the four stations on the line to be located on a curve.Electric multiple unit trains are operated under the Metlink brand through this station in both directions to Johnsonville (to the north) and Wellington (to the south).HistoryAs part of the upgrade of the section of the old Wellington and Manawatu Railway between Wellington and Johnsonville, two new stations were constructed, Awarua Street and Simla Crescent. The newly electrified Johnsonville Branch officially opened on 2 July 1938, with services to all stations from Monday 4 July. The two new stations had been used by some steam trains from 10 January 1938.Over the summer of 2008/09, the platform of the station was entirely demolished to be replaced by a brand new platform that could accommodate six carriages, as opposed to four. The replaced platform is twice the length of the old platform.ServicesTrains run in both directions through this station, departing at half-hourly intervals, supplemented by a 13/13/26 schedule at peak times on week days.