Pinera was opened in the 1920s as Overway Bridge. The name was derived from the bridge that carries Main Road over a cutting immediately west of the station. The cutting came about when the former No. 5 Tunnel was opened as a result of the duplication of the line between Eden Hills and Belair during the 1920s. The station was renamed Pinera at some point before 1947.[2]
On 31 January 1928, six rail workers were killed and three seriously injured when the No. 5 Tunnel (Former Pinera Tunnel) they were demolishing immediately west of the station, collapsed after heavy rain. [3]