The Strand Station

|} |} The Strand Station, also referred to as Auckland Strand Station is a railway station located on the eastern edge of Auckland CBD. It currently serves as the northern terminus of the Northern Explorer long-distance service between Auckland and Wellington, operated by The Great Journeys of New Zealand. Suburban services do not pass through the station, but it can serve as a backup for Britomart Transport Centre, the city's main railway station since 2003, during times of disruption.The Auckland Railway Station was opened in 1930 on Beach Road, replacing the previous railway terminus which was on the Queen Street site where Britomart now exists. The 1930 station was the third to serve as the rail terminus for Auckland, and remained the sole station serving the CBD until its closure in July 2003, when Britomart became the new terminus.The Strand Station uses some of the platforms that were retained when the Auckland Railway Station building closed. The former Platform 4 (which was designated Platform 7 at time of opening, and is now referred to as Platform 1) was retained for excursion use as 'The Strand Station', named after the nearby street. It continued to be used by a limited number of peak-hour suburban trains for a few months following the opening of Britomart. Following this, the platforms remained abandoned until August 2011 when two platforms were re-developed to prepare the station for possible use during Rugby World Cup 2011, although they were never used for that purpose. These platforms have been used for Northern Explorer services from December 2015 onwards.