Construction In 1880, the
North Island Main Trunk railway had reached
Frankton,
Hamilton, from
Auckland. From there, it was delayed by construction of the
original Waikato River bridge (now carrying road traffic as part of Claudelands Road), before the line made its way to
Morrinsville in October 1884,
Te Aroha in March 1886 and
Paeroa in 1898. There were also minor delays, such as in the delivery of
totara sleepers. The route to
Waihi through the
Karangahake Gorge was surveyed in the next few years with construction starting in 1900, with three bridges, including a
road-rail bridge and a kilometre-long tunnel, which has a 1:50 grade and took three years to build, being completed in 1904. The line between Paeroa and Waihi opened in November 1905. Surveys were undertaken for the route beyond Waihi in 1907 and construction started in March 1912, but was suspended in November of the same year. The work started again in 1914, but was suspended again in March 1917 because of a shortage of staff due to
World War I. The works started again in 1918, and the railway through the Athenree Gorge opened to
Tahawai in 1927 and
Tauranga in March 1927. The remaining length of line to
Te Puke and
Taneatua opened in 1928, and the
Taneatua Express started in 1929.
Original intention Originally in the 1910s and 1920s, the East Coast Main Trunk line was to run from Pokeno to Gisborne via Paeroa, Tauranga, Opotiki and through the Waioeka Gorge, connecting with the
Moutohora Branch to
Gisborne; creating a link from the isolated Gisborne Section line to Auckland via the Bay of Plenty. This followed on from an original proposal to link Gisborne with Auckland with a line via Rotorua, with a
Gisborne-Rotorua line from
Makaraka to
Mōtū of about being authorised by the Railways Authorisation Act, 1904. Gisborne was subsequently linked to the south with Wellington via Wairoa and Palmerston North by the
Palmerston North - Gisborne Line in 1942. Work began on extending the line from the
Taneatua Branch to Opotiki in March 1928 and on building the
Paeroa–Pokeno Line in 1938, when the Minister of Public Works
Bob Semple on 28 January
turned the first sod it was said that the proposed line would shorten the distance from Auckland to towns on the ECMT by nearly . The Kaimai Tunnel later cut the distance by about . Due to two world wars, an economic depression, and an influenza epidemic, the full railway was never completed. In June 1928, 250 men employed by the Public Works Department (many living in government houses or huts) were dismissed, to be replaced by NZR staff. As late as 1939 £45,000 was provided for extension from Taneatua to Opotiki and a route pegged out as far as a proposed
Waimana railway station. Several routes for the link from the
Moutohora Branch to the
Taneatua Branch were surveyed (20 routes by 1920), but the expense of a line descending to the Bay of Plenty could not be justified (see
Moutohora Branch).
Kaimai Tunnel deviation The
Kaimai Tunnel runs for 8,896 m under the
Kaimai Ranges. Construction started from both sides of the range in 1969: the headings met in 1976 and the tunnel opened on 12 September 1978, at which time it became the longest tunnel in the
Southern Hemisphere. It was eclipsed by the 13,400 m No. 4 tunnel of the
Hex River Tunnels system in 1989.
Closure of the northern route hauling a train in
Karangahake Gorge, 1980, on the former route After the opening of the Kaimai Tunnel, the route through the Karangahake Gorge to the eastern junction closed in 1978 and was dismantled from 1980 to 1983. The railway from Morrinsville to Paeroa stayed open and continued (via the
Thames Branch) to
Thames until closure in 1991 and lifting between Waitoa and Thames in 1996/1997. The 11 km section from Morrinsville to Waitoa reopened in 2004 to serve the
Fonterra dairy factory at Waitoa. The rail bridge at Te Aroha is now a walkway over the Waihou River; the route from the tunnel to Waikino through the Karangahake Gorge is now a walkway; from Waikino to Waihi the
Goldfields Railway heritage line preserves the old railway, and State Highway 2 runs through the Athrenee Gorge along part of the original rail alignment. Along parts of State Highway 2, parts of the old railbed, bridge piers and abutments are still visible. Old bridges are also extant at Waitoa, Te Aroha, Karangahake, Waikino and Aongatete. Near Apata, the old and newer bridges of both routes can be seen from the highway spanning the Wainui Stream. There were proposals to keep the 14.3km Apata - Katikati section of the railway open as a branch line to carry kiwifruit exports to the Port of Tauranga. The proposal gained the support of Associate Minister of Railways,
Aussie Malcolm, who announced on 26 June 1981 that the section would be retained. In July 1981 New Zealand Railways began legal work to re-open the line as an industrial line. There was strong opposition to reopening the line though. The local county council and the chamber of commerce opposed reopening, as that would mean keeping two road overbridges they were seeking to eliminate to improve roads in the area. The chamber of commerce described the reopening as an election bribe in the lead-up to the
1981 general election and it was opposed by the Labour Party. In the end, deregulation of land transport and the creation of the
New Zealand Railways Corporation in 1982 led to the re-evaluation of the business proposal to reopen the line, resulting in the decision to lift the remaining section on 18 June 1982. On 30 July 1982, the National Union of Railwaymen announced that its members had banned the lifting of the line, which proceeded anyway and was completed by 1983. cycleway. == Electrification ==