The station suffered considerably from the 1970s as suburban and branch-line services died. In 1994, 90 years after Minister of Railways Sir Joseph Ward laid the foundation stone under a banner proclaiming, ‘Advance New Zealand Railways’, the city council took possession of the station from the faltering, recently privatised remnant of the railways. Step inside and admire the magnificent tiled booking office. Trains are rare these days, but the one regular passenger train using it is an award-winner, the Taieri Gorge tourist train. The building houses a restaurant, an art gallery and the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame, and each year turns head as fashionistas tart up its platform to stage the iD Dunedin Fashion Shows.