Waipunga railway station
Waipunga railway station | |||||||||||
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Waipunga in 1924, showing the large earthworks | |||||||||||
| General information | |||||||||||
| Coordinates | 39°19′43″S 176°48′41″E / 39.328621°S 176.811519°E | ||||||||||
| Elevation | 79 m (259 ft) | ||||||||||
| Owned by | KiwiRail | ||||||||||
| Distance | Palmerston North 205.27 km (127.55 mi) | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
| Opened | 27 October 1925 | ||||||||||
| Closed | 12 October 1970 | ||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||
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Waipunga railway station served a rural part of the steep sided Esk valley, Hawke's Bay, on the Napier-Gisborne section of the Palmerston North-Gisborne line, from 1925 to 1970. A shelter shed has been preserved, alongside a single track.
After 1970 the line continued to be used by freight trains and excursions, but beyond Wairoa, the section to Gisborne was closed by slips in 2012 and mothballed. The Napier-Wairoa section reopened in 2019 following a $6.2 million investment from the Provincial Growth Fund, though, due to COVID-19, log trains were soon suspended, until November 2020. The line was again closed when Cyclone Gabrielle damaged more than 400 sites in February 2023. A decision has not yet (2025) been made on whether to restore or mothball it. The line north of the 191 km post is designated a construction site, requiring permission for access and trains north of Waipunga need a satellite phone. Kiwirail is protecting the line so that it can be reopened.