Station revamps to ease Eden Park crush

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Sports fans spilling out of Auckland's Eden Park will soon be able to make a faster getaway by train, from a new station with better pedestrian access.

A $4 million reconstruction of Kingsland railway station - with two covered platforms and a wider footbridge ready for extra rail services from February - is expected to start with heavy drainage earthworks this weekend.

But the Eden Park Trust Board believes more is needed to clear big rugby crowds. It has proposed a second footbridge, more than twice as wide again, be added later to cross Sandringham Rd as well as the rail tracks.

Work began yesterday on a $600,000 replacement footbridge for the Mt Eden station. Both that and the new Kingsland station are part of a $23 million project to complete the duplication of rail tracks on 7.5km of the unreliable western line between Mt Eden and Morningside. This will allow one train to run every 15 minutes between New Lynn and Britomart during peak hours.

Passengers will reach the new Kingsland station over a 3.2m-wide footbridge, compared with the existing 2m ramp, up an elaborate set of steps from Sandringham Rd.

A remotely controlled lift linked by intercom to the Britomart centre will be available for those in wheelchairs and others unable to climb the steps.

The footbridge has been designed for more than 140 pedestrians a minute, but the Eden Park board believes more capacity is needed. It said it would be willing to contribute to building a second footbridge 7m wide as long as other organisations paid their share.

The new platforms will be 140m long, to load trains of up to six carriages. The board wants the second bridge to cross Sandringham Rd near Walters Rd, at the opposite end of the station from the initial structure.

It is considering modular construction, so the bridge can be extended later if needed, possibly into Eden Park.

Chief executive John Alexander said the board was primarily concerned for the safety of spectators walking across Sandringham Rd, but a bridge to the New North Rd shops on the other side of the rail line would also benefit the whole community.

The board was talking to a company that wanted to develop the shopping centre, as well as the regional and city councils and Auckland Regional Transport Network.

Mr Alexander said the board had no intention of delaying the station reconstruction, which it was "extremely positive" about.

Auckland Regional Council project manager Roger Mace said the council supported the board's efforts to improve pedestrian access, which it would consider once funding issues were resolved.

He said the first bridge would be wider than the council's standard, to allow for the Eden Park crowds. However, pedestrian flow would be restricted during large events until the second crossing became available.

About 200 passengers use Kingsland station in the two-hour morning peak, and 520 a day, but that swells to 1500 each way on big match days, when extra trains run.