Grafton Railway Station Place Name Report

The report considered by the New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa (NZGB) at its meeting on 27 March 2009.

(altered railway station name)

• Grafton Railway Station or
• Khyber Pass Railway Station

Adjacent to Central Auckland

General Background

The submitter is Ontrack, who are relocating the Boston Road Railway Station from beneath the Auckland southern motorway to the intersection of Park Road and Khyber Pass Road, Auckland.

The proposal seeks to alter the place name of Boston Road Railway Station to Grafton Railway Station or Khyber Pass Railway Station. Ontrack is in the process of extensively remodelling the rail network within the larger Auckland city area, which will better manage transport flows in the future. The new site of the railway station will bring it closer to Auckland Domain, Auckland Hospital, Auckland University, and any future developments by AMP on the Lion Breweries site.

Ontrack has provided documentary evidence of consultation.

Support Grafton Railway Station proposal	Support Khyber Pass Railway Station proposal
Auckland City Council Transport Committee	Auckland Regional Transport Authority
Hobson Community Board	Department of Corrections (Mt Eden Prison)
Grafton Residents Association	Newmarket Business Association.

The submitter states that the proposed railway station names have been forwarded to Auckland Grammar School, St Peter’s College, Auckland War Memorial Museum, University of Auckland School of Medical and Health Sciences, Campaign for Better Transport and Ngāti Whātua o Orakei for consultation; however, no responses have been received.

Alternative names which were considered during Ontrack’s consultation were suggested by AMP and the Auckland District Health Board. Auckland City Council Transport Committee argue that naming the feature ‘Grafton Railway Station’ would be consistent with the practice to name a railway station after the suburb in which it is located. It is the view of the Auckland Regional Transport Authority that the name should provide specific information as to where the location of the station is within context to the adjacent area. They argue that ‘Khyber Pass Station’ will improve legibility and understanding of the public transport system, making communications and marketing more relevant to users. However, they consider that ‘Grafton Railway Station’ also fits the principles of their station naming policy, and while it is not their preferred name, it would be an acceptable alternative to ‘Khyber Pass Railway Station’.

One other location in New Zealand, near the mouth of the Wainuiomata River, Wellington, is named Khyber Pass (refer to NZ Gazette 1948, p.939). The name Khyber Pass also appears in the New Zealand Place Names Database (Archived) as a recorded name, as follows:

Khyber Pass

District: Hawke's Bay
Description: PASS: Low point in a range of hills
Lat: -39.8742
Long: 176.2221
NZMG Easting: 2785587
NZMG Northing: 6143101.7

NZMS 260 sheet: U22

The only other duplication is Khyber Pass Road, which is in the vicinity of the railway station.

The name Grafton has not been gazetted as official through the NZGB Act, however, it appears in the New Zealand Place Names Database (Archived) as a recorded name, as follows:

Grafton

District: North Auckland
Description: SUBURB: Component part of a town
Lat: -36.8661
Long: 174.7632
NZMG Easting: 2667618.1
NZMG Northing: 6480427
NZMS 260 sheet: R11

Duplication of the name Grafton is prevalent, but is predominately concentrated in the area of Auckland city:

Grafton Bridge	Auckland City
Grafton Road	Auckland City Wellington Gisborne Thames
Grafton Terrace	Auckland City
Grafton Street	Christchurch

While Ontrack advise that they have no preference for either name, Auckland City Council Transport Committee is of the view that the name of the railway station should be ‘Grafton Railway Station’, reflecting the name of the suburb where it is located. However, the Auckland Regional Transport Authority argue for ‘Khyber Pass Railway Station’, in that the name should provide specific information as to where the location of the station is within context to the adjacent area.

Map

For a larger scale version of this map please refer to the pdf version of the Grafton railway station place name report (pdf 335KB).

NZGB - Submission Report - Grafton and_or Khyber Pass.doc for Meeting of 27 March 2009 LINZ file reference: GES-N15-07-08/1794/01