Hamilton railway station, New Zealand

For the former railway station, see Hamilton Central railway station, New Zealand.

Hamilton railway station serves the city of Hamilton in the Waikato region of New Zealand. It is located in the suburb of Frankton, hence the station's former name Frankton Junction, its name for most of its existence. The station is a Keilbahnhof, located at the junction of the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) and East Coast Main Trunk (ECMT) lines. The station is served by the regional Te Huia service, which runs to Auckland via Rotokauri Transport Hub and Huntly railway station twice daily in the morning, with return services in the evening and by the 6-days a week, Northern Explorer passenger service, between Auckland and Wellington.

Hamilton railway station
1980 – the 1975 Hamilton station in the middle distance, the 1909 Frankton Junction being demolished in the foreground. ECMT and NIMT branching to left and right respectively. The pre-1909 station was between the later stations.
General information
Location	Fraser Street, Hamilton[1] New Zealand
Coordinates	37°47′30″S 175°15′55″E
Owned by	KiwiRail
Line(s)	North Island Main Trunk
Platforms	2
Connections	East Coast Main Trunk (goods only)
Construction
Parking	Yes
History
Opened	19 December 1877[2]
Rebuilt	1975
Electrified	25 kV 50 Hz AC June 1988
Previous names	Hamilton, Hamilton Junction (20 October 1879 – 1 October 1884), Frankton Junction (1884–1955), Frankton (1955-20 July 1975)[2]
Services
Preceding station KiwiRail Following station Rotokauri towards Auckland Strand Te Huia Terminus Preceding station Great Journeys New Zealand Following station Papakura towards Auckland Strand Northern Explorer Otorohanga towards Wellington Preceding station   KiwiRail   Following station   Historical railways   Te Rapa Racecourse Line open, station closed 3 km (1.9 mi) towards Britomart   North Island Main Trunk KiwiRail   Rukuhia Line open, station closed 8.45 km (5.25 mi) towards Wellington Terminus   East Coast Main Trunk   Hamilton Central Line open, station closed 1.7 km (1.1 mi)
Location

History

An engine shed was built at Hamilton Junction in 1882 and by 1884 there was a 4th class station, platform, cart approach, 60 ft (18 m) x 30 ft (9.1 m) goods shed, loading bank, stationmaster's house, urinals and a passing loop for 38 wagons. A lean-to station building with veranda was added in 1900 and gas lighting in 1910. By 1911 the goods shed had grown to 138 ft (42 m) x 30 ft (9.1 m) and there was a crane and fixed signals.^[3]

Frankton Junction station consisted of an island platform located on the NIMT just north of the junction between the ECMT and NIMT. It had two signal boxes, and a locomotive depot was located in the Vee of the junction.^[4] In 1909 a new, larger station was built to cope with the extra traffic of the through line to Wellington, 16 chains (1,100 ft; 320 m)^[5] to the north.^[6] The first Auckland - Wellington through expresses ran on 14 February 1909, taking 19 hours 13 minutes, and stopping at Frankton.^[7]

Due to the end of steam operation in the North Island in 1968, the depot was closed and a new station, 400 yd (370 m) south of the existing Frankton Junction was tendered for in October 1972. On 6 December 1972 a contract was awarded to Ray Leach Ltd. and by May 1975 the station was nearly complete.^[3] It was opened on 6 August 1975, with a side platform on each line. The station was renamed Hamilton at that time and the station formerly with that name, in the town centre, and its associated Road Services terminal in Ward Street, were renamed Hamilton Travel Centre.^[3] The listed^[8] Frankton South End signal box was relocated to the Hamilton Miniature Engineers' site at Minogue Park,^[9] opposite the new Te Rapa loco depot.

The station was important in the growth of Hamilton and historically the trains calling included The Overlander, Blue Streak, Scenic Daylight, Daylight Limited, Northerner, Silver Star, Night Limited, Waikato Connection, Rotorua Express, Geyserland Express, Thames Express, Taneatua Express and Kaimai Express.

The scale of past use of the station is indicated by a 1936 report that 3 months' revenue was £7065 for tickets (27,025 sold), £1482 for parcels and £24,143 for goods, including 43,357 sheep, 5,849 cattle and 1,756,450 bd ft (4,144.8 m³) of timber.^[10] The 2016 equivalent would be about $15m a year.^[11]

tickets sales 1882–1950 – derived from annual returns to Parliament of "Statement of Revenue for each Station for the Year ended"

Traffic grew steadily, as shown in the graph and table below.

year	tickets	season tickets	staff	ref.
1881			1	[12]
1882	5,883		1	[13]
1883	6,039		1	[14]
1884	7,475		1	[15]
1885	5,809		1	[16]
1886	3,634		2	[17]
1887	4,648	2	3	[18]
1888	1,719		1
1889	2,077		2	[19]
1890				[20]
1891	1,810		2	[21]
1892	2,178		3	[22]
1893	2,271		3	[23]
1894	2,758		3	[24]
1895	3,735		3	[25]
1896	3,505		4	[26]
1897	3,934		6	[27]
1898	5,188		7	[28]
1899	5,147		7	[29]
1900	5,715		8	[30]
1901
1902	11,264	3	9	[31]
1903	19,530	3	13	[32]
1904	31,845	55	12	[33]
1905	30,678	56	12	[34]
1906	24,555	58	16	[35]
1907	19,420	83	18	[36]
1908	21,098	124	20	[37]
1909	24,684	48	26	[38]
1910	31,830	63	33	[39]
1911	41,659	116	43	[40]
1912	57,009	204	48	[41]
1913	79,655	235	57	[42]
1914	80,769	313		[43]
1915	75,594	335		[44]
1916	83,163	266		[45]
1917	88,855	194		[46]
1918	84,129	89		[47]
1919	89,672	87		[48]
1920	105,146	127		[49]
1921	127,034	98		[50]
1922	130,403	90		[51]
1923	121,334	86		[52]
1924	121,751	73		[53]
1925	123,021	55		[54]
1926	119,312	92		[55]
1927	116,451	331		[56]
1928	101,809	254		[57]
1929	96,565	181		[58]
1930	82,596	342		[59]
1931	96,979	142		[60]
1932	85,485	129		[61]
1933	91,795	66		[62]
1934	98,184	74		[63]
1935	99,678	113		[64]
1936	102,403	57		[65]
1937	111,915	133		[66]
1938	110,555	575		[67]
1939	105,799	102		[68]
1940	109,174	92		[69]
1941	119,493	87		[70]
1942	140,779	93		[71]
1943	206,437	42		[72]
1944	212,403	54		[73]
1945	171,103	18		[74]
1946	169,589	74		[75]
1947	124,930	128		[76]
1948	100,369	181		[77]
1949	91,446	47		[78]
1950	91,360	33		[79]

Name

As noted above, the station has had several names. For Te Huia it is called Frankton, to distinguish it from Rotokauri, the other station in Hamilton used by that train to Auckland.^[80] Kiwirail uses Hamilton Kirikiriroa Frankton Station, to describe their Northern Explorer train stop.^[81]

Services

In 2009, the canopy over platform 1 (NIMT) was reduced in length. The ECMT carries no passenger services and its platform (platform 2) is used infrequently by excursion trains.

The station is currently served by the Te Huia service to Auckland Strand station using refurbished SA and SD coaches.^[82]

Northern Explorer at Hamilton in 2024 heading north

Previous services include the Kaimai Express and Geyserland Express railcars to Tauranga and Rotorua (Koutu) respectively, which were cancelled in 2002, and the overnight Northerner, which ceased operation in November 2004 under Toll Rail. The Overlander stopped at the station until on 24 June 2012, until the Northern Explorer succeeded it.

The Waikato Connection commuter service to Auckland ran in June 2000 and October 2001.

Northern Explorer at Hamilton in 2018 heading south

Hamilton station from Massey Hall bridge, showing the NIMT platform (right) and ECMT (left). In 2006, the station still had the long canopy over the platforms

Frankton Junction about 1915

AARD Hudson buses at Frankton Junction early 1920s loaded with mailbags. The 1937 link shows that the station then had many bus connections. No bus now serves the station.

Northern Explorer at Hamilton in 2012, ready to depart for Auckland. Most of the platform canopy was removed about 2008.

Plaque next to main entrance – opened by Ron Bailey 6 August 1975

A 25-minute walk to the city centre, 7 minutes on the Western Rail Trail, or 5 minute walk to the half-hourly^[83] bus