Plans for a new railway station at Opua have been given the green light. PHOTO / SUPPLIED
Plans for a new railway station at Opua have been given the green light. PHOTO / SUPPLIED
Northland rail enthusiasts are celebrating after plans to build a new station near Opua and reopen the North Island's oldest railway line were given the green light.
The 55-page resource consent decision, released yesterday, allows the Bay of Islands Railway Trust to build a railway station complete with cafe, functionroom, bike hire shop, water tower and locomotive turntable at an area off State Highway 11 known as Colenso Triangle.
Bay of Islands oyster farmers won't be cheering, however. They applied at the same time to build a barge dock next to the new station, to replace facilities lost when Opua Marina was expanded, but their plans were rejected.
Frank Leadley and Far North Mayor John Carter during an auction last week raising money for the new railway station.
Railway trust fundraising manager Frank Leadley was "absolutely delighted" with the decision to allow the station to proceed.
Railway trust fundraising manager Frank Leadley said he was "absolutely delighted" with the decision to allow the station to proceed.
"We're over the moon. This has come after a long, hard slog, and it has cost us over $50,000 - but the important thing is, now we can go ahead with funding applications."
The trust estimated it would need $5.2 million to build the station, a new cycleway and more rolling stock. Raising that much would be hard, "but we have a few irons in the fire and we reckon we can make it."
Ideally he wanted the station to open in time for summer 2018-19. The project would be huge for the North in terms of employment, tourism and historic interest, and would link up with other attractions such as the steam ferry being restored in Kerikeri.
Once the station is built and the line is re-opened, trains will be able to steam all the way to Opua for the first time since the 1980s.
More than 230 submissions were received by the Far North District and Northland Regional councils after the plan was publicly notified in October 2016. Most were in favour, which many citing the economic benefits of a reopened railway, while most of the objections related to plans to fill in a wetland inhabited by fernbirds and banded rail, or to the seabed reclamation and loss of beach access involved in the barge dock proposal.
After a combined consent application was turned down in July it was split into separate applications for the railway and the oyster farmers.
The railway trust also agreed to shift the location of the station by 65m so less of the wetland was covered.
The consent decision, by independent commissioner Rob Lieffering, comes with a raft of conditions but Mr Leadley said the trust was happy to abide by them.
Conditions include that the trust carry out pest control and set up an ecological restoration programme for the remaining wetland.
In his decision Mr Lieffering said the adverse effects of the railway terminus would be at worst moderate and the effects on threatened birds would be minor. Pest control and wetland restoration would result in a net ecological benefit, he said.
The railway line to Opua is still in place but is currently buried under a layer of gravel and used as part of the Twin Coast Cycle Trail from Opua to Horeke. The trust has assured cyclists a new trail will be built alongside the railway once the line is brought back into use.
