On 20 February 1998, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (since renamed to Heritage New Zealand) registered the station building as a Category II structure with registration number 7415. It was designed by New Zealand Railways during a time when George Troup was Head Draftsman as a representative example of either a Troup Type C station building, or a prototype of a Troup Period B & C Type station. In the 1940s, there was a proposal to duplicate the track on the Main North Line between Addington and Rangiora to relieve rail traffic congestion. In line with the general practice in the North Island where a line was double-tracked, the Railways Department planned for an island platform to allow for passenger trains from either direction to stop at the station. Even without the double tracking of the Main North Line, the Department considered that an island platform at Papanui was still useful for the crossing of passenger trains there. The Capital Estimates for 1943/1944 made an allowance for the construction of an island platform and new station building as the old building was unsuitable for an island platform. This provision continued to appear in the Capital Estimates as late as 1946/1947. The Railways Department eventually decided not to proceed with the double tracking or the island platform. Some proposals for the defunct Sockburn–Styx deviation project called for the section of the Main North Line bypassed by the deviation to be closed and lifted. However, Papanui railway station at the time was important enough (more so for goods traffic) that a spur of the Main North Line at the north end of this section would have remained in use to continue to serve Papanui station. Since the cessation of the Christchurch–Rangiora commuter service in 1976, the possibility of reviving a passenger rail service for Christchurch has been the subject of several reports. The two most recent reports are the "Proposed Introduction of Commuter Rail Services to Christchurch City and Environs (2005)" and the "Greater Christchurch Northern Rail – Rapid Assessment (2014)". A report commissioned by Environment Canterbury and released on 23 June 2005, it examines several options for establishing new passenger rail services for Christchurch. It covers the possibility of services to three main termini: Lyttelton, Rolleston, and Rangiora. The report states that a more detailed study would be required to determine the number and location of stations to serve the needs of potential users of the service. Options 2 thru 5 would have involved double tracking and resignalling through Papanui.