The “Railway Land” is the former site of the railway marshalling yards and steam engine maintenance workshops between Main and Church Streets west of the Square in Palmerston North. The land was acquired by the PN City Council for “civic purposes” in a land exchange deal with the Railways which resulted in the station and yards being relocated to their present site off Tremaine Avenue.

The Railway Land Action Group Inc. is dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of public green spaces in the City of Palmerston North. The group was initially formed in 1993 in response to the Manawatu Polytechnic’s (now UCOL) proposal to build a new campus on the Railway Land.

Beginning in 2002, the group led a major campaign against the proposal to allow The Warehouse to built a 10,000 m2 megastore on the western end of the Railway Land. This resulted in a private plan change hearing allowing the project to proceed. However, the advocacy of the Action Group was successful in May 2010 in prompting the Palmerston North City Council to gazette the remaining section of the Railway Land as a Reserve under the Reserves Act 1977.

The group has continues to actively campaign on retaining public green space. New Zealand ranks among the top nations in the world for obesity, leading to diabetes and other health problems. Green spaces are vital to get people in urban areas, in particular, off the couch and out into the outdoors to improve both their physical and mental well-being.