Te Kauwhata railway station


Te Kauwhata was a flag station on the North Island Main Trunk line, in the Waikato District of New Zealand, south of Auckland. It was north of Wellington, north of Rangiriri, south of Whangamarino and above sea level.
The name was changed from Wairangi to Waerenga in 1897 and to Te Kauwhata on 28 May 1911. Initially the station served a state experimental farm, but, from 1912, Te Kauwhata township was created.

History

The station opened on 13 August 1877. The early service averaged about, taking about 4hr 15 mins to Auckland.
The original station had a platform, shelter and a siding for 61 wagons. Station buildings were added in 1879, a cattle yard and loading platform in 1886, a goods shed from Otorohanga in 1894 and the old Pukekohe station in 1913, as a ladies’ waiting room. There was a station master in 1932.
Track doubling to ease congestion had been authorised in 1914, but work was delayed by the war. Doubling from Ohinewai to Te Kauwhata didn't open until 14 December 1958 and the line to the north remains single.
Three goods trains crashed at the station in 1930. A shunter was killed in 1931.
Passenger numbers peaked in 1944, as shown in the graph and table below -
yearticketsseason ticketssourcetitle
19235,77347https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1923/I-II/1321RETURN No. 12. Statement of Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1923
19245,91424https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1924/I/2458RETURN No. 12. Statement of Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1924
19256,69466https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1925/I/1804RETURN No. 12. Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1925
19266,41238https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1926/I/1930STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1926
19276,26940https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1927/I/2230STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1927
19285,04634https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1928/I/2628STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1928
19295,06426https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1929/I/2090STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1929
19305,43630https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1930/I/2212STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1930
19317,05613https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1931/I-II/1778STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1931
19325,6459https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1932/I-II/1934STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1932
19335,86610https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1933/I/1388STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1933
19347,29811https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1934/I/2278STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1934
19357,13112https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1935/I/1326STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1935
19366,29923https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1936/I/1552STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1936
19376,91527https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1937/I/1896STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1937
19387,31625https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1938/I/1652STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1938
19396,19061https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1939/I/1970STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1939
19406,00145https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1940/I/1314STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1940
19417,86268https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1941/I/1203STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1941
194211,39653https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1942/I/651STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1942
194315,08761https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1943/I/679STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1943
194416,11258https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1944/I/895STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1944
194513,94434https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1945/I/969STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1945
194614,26420https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1946/I/1548STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1946
19479,75817https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1947/I/2495STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1947
19486,7622https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1948/I/2521STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1948
19496,3481https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1949/I/2104STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1949
19507,2263https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1950/I/2366STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1950

Reopening

A 2018 report to Waikato Regional Council suggested reopening in 2023, as the station has 3 tracks and "Te Kauwhata was considered to be the easiest of these stations to reactivate", the main work being raising the platform. The initial Te Huia train, to commence in August 2020, will not stop at Te Kauwhata. In 2020 reopening of the platform was put forward as a COVID-19 recovery scheme, at an estimated cost of $10m.