Southern Line (Auckland)

The Southern Line in Auckland, New Zealand, is the name given to suburban train services that operate between Britomart Station in central Auckland and Pukekohe via Newmarket.

Southern Line
STH
Southern Line train at Takaanini
Overview
Owner	KiwiRail (tracks and platforms), Auckland Transport (trains and buildings)
Locale	Auckland
Termini	Britomart Pukekohe
Connecting lines	Eastern Line Onehunga Line Western Line
Stations	17
Service
Type	Commuter Rail
System	AT Trains
Operator(s)	Auckland One Rail
Rolling stock	AM class
Technical
Line length	49.62 km (30.83 mi)
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification	25 kV 50 Hz AC overhead
Route map Legend km 0.0 Britomart (Auckland) Quay Park junction The Strand Eastern Line junction Eastern Line Ronayne Street SH 16 Parnell Rise Parnell Parnell Tunnel (343m) Cowie Street Western Line 3.7 Newmarket Remuera Road SH 1 Newmarket Viaduct 4.8 Remuera Market Road Omahu Road Green Lane 6.2 Greenlane Mitchelson Street Walpole Street Main Highway 7.6 Ellerslie Ellerslie-Panmure Highway Great South Road Onehunga Branch 9.1 Penrose to Onehunga via Te Papapa South-Eastern Highway Church Street East Eastern Line Southdown Freight Centre Westfield Junction Railway Lane Ōtāhuhu Kaka Street Mangere Road Middlemore Papatoetoe St George Street Bridge Street Puhinui Cavendish Drive Manukau Branch SH 20 Wiri Station Road Homai Browns Road Jutland Road Station Road Manurewa Weymouth Road Great South Road Te Mahia SH 1 Southern Motorway Spartan Road Manuroa Road Takaanini Taka Street Walters Road Subway Road Clevedon Road 33.1 Papakura Onslow Road Settlement Road Boundary Road Opaheke Road Sutton Road Waihoehoe Road Drury SH 1 Southern Motorway Great South Road McPherson Road Ngākōroa Paerātā Crown Road Mission Bush Branch Cape Hill Road Stadium Drive 51.3 Pukekohe North Island Main Trunk km This diagram: view talk edit

Map

Routing

From Waitematā to Newmarket, Southern Line services use the Newmarket Line, then follow the North Auckland Line to Westfield Junction, and thence onto the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) line as far as Pukekohe, the terminus of the Southern Line. In its entirety, this line follows the original 1875 North Island Main Trunk route between central Auckland and Pukekohe.

The line, originally single-tracked, was duplicated, piecemeal, between 1909 and 1939. In 1915, the original single-track Parnell tunnel was bypassed by a twin-track tunnel. The older tunnel can be seen alongside the current one, between Parnell station and Newmarket Junction.

History

In 1930, the Westfield Deviation opened a new eastern route for the NIMT between Auckland and Westfield via Glen Innes. The route between Auckland and Westfield via Newmarket then ceased to be part of the NIMT. The portion between Newmarket and Westfield became part of the North Auckland Line (NAL), which runs between Westfield and Whangārei.

The Southern Line suburban services continued to run on the older route. A new line, called the Eastern Line, was introduced for services on the new route. While the Eastern and Southern lines have a different route between Auckland and Westfield, they share the same tracks between Westfield and Puhinui station.

Third Main Line

A future third main line is under construction as part of the Wiri to Quay Park project announced in 2017; work started in 2020 and is to be completed by 2025.^[1] It is expected to ease congestion on Auckland rail lines by allowing "through" trains to pass stationary trains at stations, improve rail freight access from the Port of Auckland to the Westfield yards and allow more frequent passenger and freight services.^[2] The new line would be between Westfield and Wiri.^[3]

These improvements will avoid an estimated 175,000 annual freight movements on the state highway network. Work began at the end of 2020. The $315 million funding package for these works was announced as part of the Government's New Zealand Upgrade Programme.

Electrification and new stations

Main article: Auckland railway electrification

Along with the rest of Auckland's suburban railway network, the Southern Line was electrified from Waitematā to Papakura, with electric services beginning in 2014. Services between Pukekohe and Papakura were initially provided by diesel multiple units (DMUs). In 2020, as part of the New Zealand Upgrade Programme, the government announced $371 million in funding to extend electrification from Papakura to Pukekohe. The project was completed in early 2025, and electric train services from Pukekohe commenced on 3 February 2025.^[4][5][6]

As part of the Pukekohe electrification project, new stations are to be built at Drury, Ngākōroa and Paerātā.^[4]

Services

Suburban services are operated by Auckland One Rail under the AT Metro brand.

Stations

Stations on the Southern Line

	Distance from Britomart	Name	Opened	Notes
	0.00 km (0.00 mi)	Britomart	7 July 2003[7]
		Parnell	12 March 2017
	3.84 km (2.39 mi)	Newmarket	20 December 1873[7]
	4.91 km (3.05 mi)	Remuera	20 December 1873[7]
	6.38 km (3.96 mi)	Greenlane	20 December 1873[7]
	7.75 km (4.82 mi)	Ellerslie	20 December 1873[7]
	9.2 km (5.72 mi)	Penrose	24 December 1873[7]
	14.33 km (8.90 mi)	Ōtāhuhu	20 May 1875[7]	New station and bus-train interchange opened 29 October 2016.[8]
	16.2 km (10.07 mi)	Middlemore	20 July 1947[7]
	18.06 km (11.22 mi)	Papatoetoe	20 May 1875[7]
	19.56 km (12.15 mi)	Puhinui	29 June 1925[7]	New station and bus-train interchange opened 26 July 2021.[9]
	22.78 km (14.15 mi)	Homai	15 August 1924[7]
	24.41 km (15.17 mi)	Manurewa	20 May 1875[7]
	26.24 km (16.30 mi)	Te Mahia	16 August 1926[7]
	27.84 km (17.30 mi)	Takaanini	9 December 1913[7]
	31.46 km (19.55 mi)	Papakura	20 May 1875[7]
		Drury	2026	New station set to open in 2026.[10]
		Ngākōroa	2026	New station set to open in 2026.[10]
		Paerātā	2026	New station set to open in 2026.[10]
	49.62 km (30.83 mi)	Pukekohe	20 May 1875[7]

See also

• Public transport in Auckland
• List of Auckland railway stations

References

1. "The Third Main Line". KiwiRail. 2023.
2. "Agenda for a meeting of the Infrastructure Committee - 5.9 Hamilton to Auckland Passenger Rail – Progress Update and Future Direction" (PDF). Waikato District Council. 27 June 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 April 2021.
3. "The Third Main Line". KiwiRail. 2023.
4. Coughlan, Thomas (29 January 2020). "Government announces billions of infrastructure spending, with roads the big winner". Stuff. Archived from the original on 1 February 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
5. "Electric trains to Pukekohe". Auckland Transport. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
6. "Trains return to Pukekohe after two-year station closure". RNZ. 3 February 2025. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
7. Scoble, Juliet (2010). "Names & Opening & Closing Dates of Railway Stations" (PDF). Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
8. "New Otahuhu Station and a New Network for South Auckland". Auckland Transport. Archived from the original on 31 October 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
9. "Puhinui Station reopens Monday 26th July 2021". Auckland Transport. 27 July 2021.
10. "Southern Stations". KiwiRail. Retrieved 22 February 2023.