KiwiRail will build a train station almost half a kilometre away from a planned town centre south of Auckland, despite a developer’s long-running campaign to locate it closer.
The developer of Auranga – a sustainability-focused township being built near Drury – has been locked in a legal wrangle, opposing KiwiRail’s preferred site which is 450m west of the proposed civic centre. According to Google maps, to takes 6 minutes to walk this distance.
[In a judicial review](https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/127604433/developer-of-south-auckland-city-heads-to-court-over-train-station-site), Auranga’s owner Charles Ma challenged an August 2020 meeting where KiwiRail, Auckland Council and others discussed a location no longer directly opposed the town centre.
The High Court has found that meeting was not open for judicial review, and that KiwiRail – as the funder and builder of the rail network – had the sole right to decide where the station should go.
“The definition of ‘Auckland transport system’ does not include public infrastructure that is not owned by Auckland Council, or not owned by or under the control of Auckland Transport,” said the court.
Ma said the town centre element of Auranga – which will eventually have 3000 homes – was now on hold, as it would no longer be a sustainable development that people could access easily without a car.
“If the railway station is not there, people won’t walk to the town centre, they’ll say. ‘I’ll have to go take another bus or an Uber.’ It’s just not convenient,” said Ma.
