This post is the second in my series on the stations of the City Rail Link project, having looked at Aotea in this previous post. My next post will look at Newton Station, while Nick is planning a post to look at how we might operate trains running through the CRL – both on opening day and also in the longer term when we further extend the rail network.
Karangahape Road station is, as the name suggests, located pretty much underneath Karangahape Road around its intersection with Pitt Street. While it’s not in the ‘heart of the city centre’ to the extent that Aotea Station is, Karangahape Road Station quite interestingly provides rail access to the part of the city centre that’s currently located most distantly from the rail network. As you can see in the map below, while Newton Station and Aotea Station have catchments that somewhat overlap with existing rail stations, the K Road station very much sits between the two – a long way from the existing rail network.
As I noted earlier in this post, K Road station is located underneath the general area where Pitt Street intersects with K Road. The main entrance is likely to be off Beresford Square. Some further details are shown in the two images below:
A very distinctive feature of K Road station is how deep it will be, because of the need for relatively gentle gradients along the whole line and because Karangahape Road traverses a ridgeline. The platforms are likely to be at least 20 metres below ground level, meaning quite a lot of excavation to actually build the station.
Along with the obvious transport benefits of bringing this part of the city centre within access of the rail network (meaning much faster journey times for those travelling to and from the area) the station has the potential to trigger enormous redevelopment and reinvestment in what has previously been a somewhat neglected part of town. K Road should definitely maintain its unique and fascinating character, but vastly improving access to the area makes it a potentially fantastic location for both residential and commercial development: taking advantage of the great views, the proximity to open space like Myers Park and to Ponsonby/Grey Lynn just around the corner.
The City Centre Master Plan recognised the potential for development around K Road station, producing this diagram:
The Master Plan suggested that the station’s catchment has capacity for an additional 46,000 square metres of office space, 77,000 square metres for residential development and 3,000 square metres for civic space. Looking at the diagram above, most of this seems focused in a pretty small area and I’d be surprised if there wasn’t significant further development capacity in a slightly wider area, and also potentially on sites just stepped back from K Road.
In terms of accessibility, the table below shows how many places will become within just a quick train ride of K Road station when it’s built:
Less than 10 minutes to Morningside, Newmarket and obviously the other CRL stations. Only 5 minutes to Grafton Station. This part of Auckland would go from having quite poor access to rail to having absolutely superb access via the rail network to and from pretty much every corner of Auckland. It’s certainly an exciting station.
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The K Rd station will actually be 30-40m below ground and suggesting the tunnel will have a gentle gradient isn’t quite accurate as it will be close to the limit trains to operate on.
While there is built heritage of importance in that zone, I think they’re being a bit conservative with what can happen there. The K Rd end of Ponsonby and surrounding area is also well within reach.
However, I’m really worried about the transition in the Auckland Plan between map one and map two (considerably more restrictive, with a tendency to the status quo) http://greaterakl.wpengine.com/2012/03/12/auckland-plans-new-development-strategy/ If the second goes ahead, that illustration above will be fairly accurate.
In Melbourne the catchment of the central loop is extended greatly by having very regular trams which operate on integrated ticketing in the same fare-zone. Once you extend that to transit here, you get a much larger area for development. We should have the integrated part sorted out by 2020 or so (probably), and services will continue to increase in frequency.
Funny you should mention the Ponsonby end of K road. I always thought that a great way of encouraging density and the station catchment would be a line of high quality apartments along the Great North Road ridge towards Grey Lynn with 24/7 buslanes through to the K Road station. 5-10 minutes by bus to the station then anywhere on the network. Walking distance to/from Ponsonby, Western Park or Western Springs, historic town centre at one end to anchor it, few heritage buildings to worry about. Sounds perfect for redevelopment.
James B-
Utterly perfect. That’s only one plan though.
Certain elements in Council think car yards is a better use of it…
Scene: Tonight
Me- Oh look, that John Andrew Ford on the corner of Great North Rd and Newton is gone. Good riddance, I hope they build some apartments that aren’t bland as fuck
She- No, look at the sign-
The Sign- “John Andrew Ford have moved across the road temporarily while we make our car yard bigger and better”
That’s a win for the bad guys.
A better car yard. There’s an oxymoron if ever I heard one.
I can see a pub crawl taking shape…
Not quite as liver destroying as the circle line in London. Also not many pubs near Grafton Station. Maybe start it at Newton, skip Grafton, two pubs in Newmarket, two in Parnell, two in Britomart, two near Aotea, finish at K Road.
As this station is deep, having esculators emerging around the Pitt St / Vincent St intersection would be quite easy, along with an enterance at the low end of Mercury Lane. These would both connect to areas of new development, and offer easier access to the station, rather than having to walk to the top of the hill only to go down a series of esculators or use a lift.
Another less practical, more expensive but nice access point would be from the top of Myers Park. As well as accessing an attractive green space, it provides walking paths and access to a number of apartment buildings which now surround the area.
Something else to think about would be to have an enterance on K’Rd itself, rather than hidden around the corner on Beresford St. I would suggest around the intersection with East St, given the depth of the station, it would be easy to have esculators up and across to this point. This would then provide a short walk to connect with the K’Rd bus stops above the motorways. I’d think about making this the terminus for the bulk of the western buses.
I think narrowing Pitt Street and having an entrance outside Leo O’Malley’s could be a goer. It could go to a large foyer under Pitt Street.
I like the Beresford Square entrance, especially if they close of the last bit of road and actually make it a full square. That could be a really awsome centrepiece for K Rd.
Narrowing Pitt could still be an option, it really is excessively wide.
My personal choice for a second entrance would be through the George Court building. It’s well located on the opposite corner of K Rd compared to Beresford (so most places are at worst one street crossing from an entrance), plus it is over near where a lot of the development is proposed. Beyond that there is a big grand foyer there that used to lead to the department store, now it’s just got a couple of shops. That could make a fantastic entrance to the station in keeping with the area’s character.
I think Beresford Square is best for the main entrance but having a smaller New York style entrance on K Road is essential. George Court could be a goer as well/instead of.
Needless to say I think we all agree that one entrance on Beresford is not enough.
Beresford is almost certainly the right option for the main street entrance. Turn it into a proper pedestrianised area, and widen Pitt sufficiently to allow good pedestrian flows. More work on pedestrian/bus priority on K also makes a lot of sense.
I think a Myers Park entrance is a necessity. It’s very close, the same elevation, and it opens up one of Auckland’s hidden gems.
I’d just like to agree to the Beresford St AND George Court entrances! And the idea of one at the bottom of Mercury Lane with escalators is nice, too.
I’d like to disagree with the Myers Park suggestion. I really love how it’s still a hidden gem, and I think a station entrance could have detrimental effects on the park. I’m thinking more drunks, rubbish and crime etc.
Is that selfish?