Henderson train travel has air to it

Henderson's new railway station will be in use tomorrow. Picture / Martin Sykes

Henderson rail passengers may be excused for thinking they are about to board an airline flight tomorrow morning, when they start using a $5.5 million "air-bridge" as the only way of reaching a new platform.

The self-enclosed bridge, which is almost 7.5m wide with a paved floor and piped music, offers 24-hour access to the remodelled railway station from Railside Ave and from Waitakere City's new $36.5 million civic centre off Henderson Valley Rd.

There will no longer be access to the old platform or Henderson's original 1881 station building, and passengers are urged to allow extra time from tomorrow to reach their trains via an "island" platform between two sets of tracks.

Stairs and elevators at three points along the new bridge will be complemented by escalators down to the new platform, although escalators to and from Railside Ave have yet to be completed.

Waitakere City Council has built the bridge, with financial help from the Auckland Regional Transport Authority and Land Transport NZ, as part of a transport interchange which will include bus-stops in Railside Ave from about February.

Buses will continue to collect and drop off passengers along Great North Rd in the meantime.

Tomorrow also marks the opening of 2km of duplicate rail tracks through Henderson, between Bruce McLaren Rd and Mt Lebanon Lane, allowing trains to make up time if they are late.

The transport authority has built passenger shelters for about $800,000 along the new 140m platform, which cost Government rail agency Ontrack $1 million to build.

Ontrack spent about $10 million on the platform, duplicate tracks and associated civil works which included replacing the rail bridge over Henderson Valley Rd with two new, higher structures.

The agency is spending about $70 million duplicating tracks between Henderson and the Titirangi Rd side of New Lynn as part of its $600 million upgrade of Auckland's rail infrastructure over three years.

It will also start work this month on 5km of track duplication between Mt Lebanon Lane and Swanson Station - the third on the western line. About 4km was commissioned two years ago between Mt Eden and Kingsland.

The new station will be opened officially on November 2.