In 1938 the Federal Minister of the Interior John McWewen stated in Parliament that the Kingston station was temporary and that the 'site of the permanent railway station for Canberra is in Civic Centre' and that the 'present station is well off the route of the permanent railway'. Though in 1940, the rails that had be laid in anticipation of a permanent Civic Line were removed and by the 1950s, locations south of the lake for the new station were under consideration, including Bowen Place (adjacent to Kings Ave bridge) and State Circle (adjacent to Parliament House).