Okahukura railway station was a station on the North Island Main Trunk in New Zealand.^[2][3]

Quick Facts General information, Location ...

Okahukura railway station
Okahukura station site in 2019 Double deck bridge on Stratford branch in background
General information
Location	New Zealand
Coordinates	38.801591°S 175.22378°E / -38.801591; 175.22378
Elevation	178 m (584 ft)
Line(s)	North Island Main Trunk
Distance	Wellington 408.54 km (253.85 mi)
History
Opened	1912
Closed	Before Dec 1975 passenger 27 August 1978 goods[1]
Electrified	June 1988
Previous names	Okahukora to 7 Aug 1913
Passengers
1934	11,940
Services
Preceding station   Historical railways   Following station Te Koura Line open, station closed   North Island Main Trunk KiwiRail   Taringamotu Line open, station closed

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The station opened when work started on the eastern end of the Stratford–Okahukura Line. It was served by through trains on that line from 3 September 1933 (though rails were completed by 7 November 1932)^[4] to 2009, being 9.65 km (6.00 mi) east of Tuhua.^[2] The Public Works Department operated a limited train service as far as Matiere from 1922.^[5] A junction with the NIMT at Ongarue,^[6] and even as far north as Puketutu^[7] (via Mokauiti and Ohura)^[8] had been considered before the Okahukura route was decided in 1911.^[9] Work started shortly^[10] after Sir Joseph Ward had turned the first sod, including the construction of workshops and 4 railway houses at Okahukura,^[11] and the station opened the following year. It seems that the initial service was provided by coaches attached to goods trains.^[12]

A cattle yard and goods shed were added in 1915.^[13] In 1916 a porter was paid 9 shillings a week.^[14]

Passenger numbers peaked in 1934, as shown in the graph and table below -

The concrete foundations of the 260 ft (79 m)^[15] road-rail bridge over the Ongarue River, on the Stratford line had been laid by 1918, but war-time steel shortages delayed further work.^[16] The first piles were sunk in 1916^[15] and it had been completed by January 1922.^[17]

In 2019 reopening of the line was listed as a possible future priority.^[18]

76 ch (5,000 ft; 1,500 m) long Okahukura tunnel, is 2 mi (3.2 km) up from Okahukura, along the Stratford line, on a 1 in 50 gradient.^[6] It was started in February 1914 and completed in December 1920, after digging out 58,000 cu yd (44,000 m³) of mudstone.^[15]