The station will be located on the existing North Island Main Trunk railway line, adjacent to the planned eastern extent of the development.

[2] Between 1875 and 1972, it was a flag station, 28 mi (45 km) south of Auckland,[3] on the North Island Main Trunk in New Zealand, serving the Paerata settlement.

Sheep yards and a loading bank followed and, from 1906, a Post Office was run by station staff, which moved to Messent's store in 1923.

[11] In preparation for the Waiuku Branch, the loop was extended in 1913 to 70 wagons, two cottages and a goods shed were built in 1914[7] and the station became an island platform in 1917.

[7] New train stations for Drury West and Paerata are included in a July 2017 proposal for Auckland infrastructure spending of $600 million to support new housing announced by the government.

They will be built and owned by a new Crown Infrastructure Partners body, as the Auckland Council has reached its borrowing limit.

The name derives from a conflation of 'pae', a Māori word meaning 'a ridge or resting place', and 'raataa', referring to a rātā tree.

[30] In August 2022, the New Zealand Geographic Board returned its verdict on the name, rejecting the use of double vowels as preferred by the Mana Whenua Forum, and instead recommending the name 'Paerātā', in line with national and te reo Māori orthographic standards.

The iwi involved expressed strong dislike of the decision, saying that standardisation of the written form is a loss of their identity and homogenisation of culture, and that they want their children to not be penalised in schools and to learn written te reo Māori in their regional form.

The Board's recommended name was approved by the Land Information Minister Damien O'Connor in March 2023.