Henderson railway station

Henderson railway station is a major station on the Western Line of the Auckland railway network in New Zealand. It is located near the town centre of Henderson, the western administration offices of Auckland Council, and a major shopping centre, WestCity Waitakere.

History
The station was opened on 2 October 1880 for goods and on 21 December 1880 for all services including passengers.

Built as one of the stations for the railway line connecting Auckland with Helensville, that old station comprised two timber buildings and a long platform. In 1912 it was added another building with a post office and a canopy, and the platform was extended. Another reorganisation and extension of the station happened in 1925, although the previous layout was little modified.

It was functioning as both a railway station and post office until 1987. It reopened as a cafe in 1993, then a furniture store until 2000.

This old station was registered in 2004 by Heritage New Zealand as a Category 2 Historic Place.

Major upgrade
A major upgrade of the station was completed on 24 October 2006. The new station opened on 2 November 2006, 125 years after the railway first reached Henderson. It has an island platform. Stairs and escalators, enclosed in transparent panels, connect to an overhead walkway that connects to the council's office buildings and to the adjacent Railside Avenue.

In 21 August 2010 a "Distributed Stabling Facility" was opened because locals objected to the proposal to open the facility at Ranui railway station. ARTA had proposed it as part of the upgrading of the network, to store up to 11 trains and to clean trains when out of service; with staff car parking and welfare facilities.

Station name
It was proposed that the station be renamed Waitakere Central when it was upgraded because it was integrated with the then Waitakere City Council's new Civic Building. There were objections that there would be confusion with Waitakere railway station, also on the Western Line. Due to opposition to the name change, the station has Waitakere Central only as a subtitle. In practice, the station is never referred to by the name but the council uses it to refer to its premises, directly above the platforms.

Services
Auckland One Rail, on behalf of Auckland Transport, operates suburban train services between Swanson and Waitematā.

Bus routes 13, 14, 120, 135, 143, 145, 147, 152, 154, 162, 022 (Schools) and 050 (Schools) arrive and depart from the transport interchange on Railside Avenue.