Rail transport in New Zealand

Provincial period (1863–1876) Railway lines were initially constructed by the provincial governments of New Zealand from 1863 onwards. New Zealand's first public railway was opened in that year, running the short distance between Christchurch and the wharf at Ferrymead and built by the Canterbury Provincial Railways. The Canterbury Provincial Railways were built to the broad gauge of . In February 1867, Southland Province opened a branch from Invercargill to Bluff to the international standard gauge of . Gauge gauge (internationally known as narrow gauge) was chosen due to the need to cross mountainous terrain in the country's interior and the lower cost of construction. Due to multiple rail gauges being used by railways built by provincial governments, the prospect of a similar break of gauge problem to Australia (where narrow, standard and broad gauge railways were built by different colonial governments) became a major political issue as the provincial railways expanded. In 1867, the House of Representatives formed a select committee to investigate the issue, composed of members of parliament from all across New Zealand. In 1987, the Railways Corporation became a state-owned enterprise, required to make a profit. In 1990, the core rail operations of the Corporation were transferred to New Zealand Rail Limited, another state-owned enterprise, with the Corporation retaining non-core assets which were gradually disposed of, including a significant land portfolio. In many cases, the Corporation did not dispose of land due to Treaty of Waitangi claims and has continued to manage land. Private ownership (1993–2004) New Zealand Rail Limited was privatised in 1993. The company was sold for $328.3 million to a consortium led by New Zealand merchant bank Fay Richwhite and US regional railroad Wisconsin Central Ltd. In 1995 the new owners adopted the name Tranz Rail and listed the company on the New Zealand stock market and NASDAQ. Rail freight volumes increased between 1993 and 2000 from 8.5m net tonnes to 14.99m net tonnes carried annually, and then gradually fell until 2003 to 13.7m tonnes. Freight volumes then increased again to 16.1m tonnes carried annually in 2012. Tranz Rail was accused of deliberately running down some lines through lack of maintenance. The Midland line for example, which mostly carries coal from the West Coast to Lyttelton, was assessed to be in a safe but poor state by the LTSA government safety body in 2003, and has needed major repairs. Tranz Rail was accused of forcing freight onto the roads, and in 2002 introduced a containerisation scheme that assumed that most freight would be carried in containers on unit trains made up of fixed consists of flat deck wagons. Container loading depots were constructed at the major freight terminals. One of the reasons often cited for these policies was that the cost of using road transport to Tranz Rail was less than that of using rail because the road infrastructure is provided as a public good, whereas the rail network was a private good. Government purchase of Auckland rail network The government purchased the Auckland metropolitan rail network from Tranz Rail for $81 million in 2002. Tranz Rail retained time slots for freight trains, and the Auckland Regional Council was granted slots for it to contract the operation of suburban passenger trains. Auckland railway stations not already local council-owned were transferred to Auckland Regional Transport Network Limited (ARTNL), owned by the Auckland territorial authorities, which was merged with the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA), a subsidiary of the Auckland Regional Council (ARC). With the creation of the "super-city" Auckland Council in 2010, ARTA was dissolved and its role was taken over by Auckland Transport, a new council-controlled organisation. Private and government ownership (2004–2008) In 2003, the share price of Tranz Rail dropped to a record low on the New Zealand sharemarket, dropping 88% in value in 12 months as a result of its poor financial state and credit downgrading. The government then considered various schemes for bailing it out in return for regaining control of the rail infrastructure. Cited reasons included a "level playing field" for freight movements on road and rail, and ensuring access to the tracks for all interested parties. Renationalisation (2008–current) at Wellington railway station on 1 July 2008 at the launch of KiwiRail. Instead of concluding a final track access agreement with Toll, in 2008 the government purchased the rail and ferry assets for $690 million, effective 1 July 2008. The new organisation created to operate services on the rail network was named KiwiRail. Ownership of the national rail network is vested in KiwiRail Holdings Limited, with land owned by the New Zealand Railways Corporation. KiwiRail Network (formerly ONTRACK) is a division of KiwiRail that maintains and upgrades the rail infrastructure and is responsible for the control of the network (i.e. train control and signalling). Other rail operating companies using the rail network include Auckland One Rail and Transdev Wellington, who operate suburban services in Auckland and Wellington respectively, and Dunedin Railways, who operate tourist trains out of Dunedin. KiwiRail released in 2010 a 10-year turnaround plan for the rail industry. This was accompanied by significant government investment in KiwiRail of over $2.1 billion during the period 2008 to February 2017. In May 2017, the government announced a further $450 million capital injection and that KiwiRail would be subject to a further significant review. The plan has been significantly undermined by the Christchurch earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake, Pike River Mine disaster, coal price collapse, coal miner Solid Energy going into voluntary administration in 2016 and major motive power issues with the new DL class of locomotives. Nevertheless, significant improvements in freight volumes have followed (other than with coal). Two of KiwiRail's major customers, Mainfreight and Fonterra, also invested heavily in rail-related infrastructure. Mainfreight allocated $60 million for investment in new railhead depots, while Fonterra invested $130m in a new rail hub complex in Hamilton and another planned for Mosgiel. New Zealand Rail Plan In 2019, the government began a "Future of Rail" review, and in December 2019 released a draft New Zealand Rail Plan, outlining changes to the rail transport industry. The draft plan proposes a number of major changes, the most significant being future funding of the rail network through the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF). The final plan was launched in April 2021, • Reopening the Stratford–Okahukura line; • Completing double-tracking of the North Island Main Trunk between Auckland and Hamilton; • Increasing axle weight between Auckland and Tauranga to 20 tonnes plus; • Standardising loop lengths from Palmerston North to Waikanae; • Increase axle weight to 18 tonnes plus in the South Island. This network would provide passenger services linking Auckland with Hamilton, Tauranga and Rotorua. Marsden Point Branch Third Main Line The third main line was opened between Quay Park and Wiri in September 2025. In 2020, the government announced funding for a number of rail-related infrastructure projects, mainly in the Auckland region. ==Operations==

Freight in the Tranz Rail "bumble-bee" livery hauling container wagons on the North Island Main Trunk at Raurimu Spiral in September 2006. service arriving at Picton in December 2011. electric passenger train at Newmarket station, April 2014. locomotive 1271 on an excursion at Ahuriri in February 2003. Freight is carried by KiwiRail and provides the majority of its revenue traffic. In the 2017–2018 financial year, freight contributed $350.7 million in revenue or 57% of the company's total revenue. Freight is mostly bulk traffic geared towards export industries, with general freight being largely restricted to containerised and palletised products on the trunk route. Major bulk freight includes coal, lime, steel, wood and wood products, paper pulp, dry and liquid milk, cars, fertiliser, grain and shipping containers. Freight levels have returned to the level that they were at when the railway had a virtual monopoly on land transport, prior to 1983. In 1980 11.8 million tonnes of freight was moved by rail, in 1994 this had decreased to 9.4 million tonnes. By 1999, tonnes carried had increased to 12.9 million tonnes, slightly more than the 1975 peak. This equated to 3.96 million net tonne kilometres (or the number of tonnes of traffic gained in 2008–2009 compared to the amount of traffic hauled in the 2006–2007 year). A 2008 study by the Ministry of Transport predicted that by 2031 rail freight volumes would increase to 23 million tonnes per annum or 70% on the 2006–2007 financial year. In 2018 the same report found freight levels had increased by 17% between 2007 and 2012. A number of services came to an end in the early 2000s, including the Waikato Connection between Hamilton and Auckland, the Kaimai Express between Auckland and Tauranga, the Geyserland Express between Auckland and Rotorua, the Bay Express between Wellington and Napier, the Southerner between Christchurch and Invercargill and the Northerner night service between Auckland and Wellington. Two further long distance scheduled passenger services, the Northern Explorer and Coastal Pacific ended their services in December 2021. On April 12, 2022, KiwiRail announced the return of the Northern Explorer and Coastal Pacific services in September, alongside new multi day excursion trains at a later date. Horizons Regional Council's 2021-2031 Regional Land Transport Plan noted that KiwiRail is considering a "connector service" which would link the districts' populations to urban services. It also noted that rail service between Whanganui and Palmerston North could be established. The Plan proposes to replace the Capital Connection, a long-range commuter train, with a modern and larger train fleet that could operate at a higher frequency. Suburban passenger services Currently, Auckland and Wellington have suburban passenger services. In both cities, the respective local governments own the suburban passenger rolling stock and contract the operation of services to a third party. The Auckland commuter rail services are operated by Auckland One Rail and the Wellington commuter rail services are operated by Transdev, with KiwiRail the rail network infrastructure provider. Prior to Transdev, KiwiRail's Tranz Metro division held the contract. Wellington's suburban rolling stock consists of electric multiple units, with diesel locomotive-hauled carriage trains used on the Wairarapa service. All of the rolling stock (except the diesel locomotives) is owned by Greater Wellington Rail Limited, a subsidiary of Greater Wellington Regional Council. Transdev Wellington contracts KiwiRail to provide and operate the required diesel locomotives. with the exception of a then-non-electrified section of track between Papakura and Pukekohe, where a diesel train shuttle service operated. The Papakura to Pukekohe section was electrified in 2024 and reopened to the public in 2025. Auckland One Rail operates the electric trains on behalf of Auckland Transport (AT). In recent years the mothballed Onehunga Branch was reopened (2010) and a new line was built (Manukau Branch, opened April 2012). Recent major projects include electrification of the Auckland suburban network and the building of the City Rail Link. Most Auckland rolling stock is owned by AT, which funds and coordinates all services. Other cities Other cities (Christchurch, Dunedin, Invercargill and Napier-Hastings) once had suburban services, but they were withdrawn due to a lack of patronage. The Christchurch-Lyttelton suburban service was stopped in 1972 when passengers were down to "a busload". The last "boat train" for the ferry service to Wellington ran in 1976. The 10.5 km line to Lyttelton was electrified from 1929 to 1970. There were worker's trains north to Rangiora; two in the morning and two in the afternoon. Dunedin had suburban trains to Port Chalmers and Mosgiel, withdrawn on 3 December 1982. The Invercargill to Bluff service stopped in 1967; in 1929 the sole Clayton steam railcar had been used. Trains ran the between Napier and Hastings but some were replaced by a New Zealand Railways Road Services bus in 1926, and soon they ceased altogether. In 2017, the recently elected Labour-led Coalition government proposed to provide commuter rail in Christchurch and to provide long-distance commuter services from Auckland to Hamilton and Tauranga. Worker's concession tickets had been introduced in 1897, initially for the Wellington-Hutt service, and extended next year to Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin (and then between Westport and Waimangaroa). A 1979 NZR report "Time for Change" said that the Wellington suburban services revenue met only 26% of operating costs (Dunedin was 28%, Auckland 46%). In 2025, Mainland Rail acquired a fleet of former Auckland Transport diesel multiple units, for use in Christchurch for special events to Te Kaha Stadium, with a planned launch for services in April 2026. School commuters Up to the 1930s and 1940s, pupils had to commute to larger towns for secondary education from places that only had a primary school; for example from rural Canterbury to Christchurch Technical High School. Another famous example was Sir Edmund Hillary who commuted by school train from Tuakau to Auckland Grammar School for three and a half hours, a one-hour and 40 minutes journey each way. School trains ran between Picton and Blenheim, allowing Picton students to attend Marlborough College (split into Marlborough Boys' College and Marlborough Girls' College in 1963). The service was cancelled when Queen Charlotte College opened in Picton in 1965, and those students remaining at the Marlborough Colleges switched to buses. The NZR offered season tickets for primary and secondary school students from 1877, using funds paid for out of the Education budget, and from 1885 for students attending primary schools from a place lacking a local school. Premier Richard Seddon and the Liberal Government were keen to place secondary education "within the reach of the poorest man in the Colony" with an extension of the free passes in 1898 and 1909. School season passes increased from 8,720 in 1899 to 29,705 in 1914–15, when one in seven primary and secondary students travelled by train. Some pupils reached home after dark in the winter and had to milk cows before and after school. John Pascoe said that some children spend "up to six hours a day travelling." Boys and girls were usually segregated. ==Infrastructure and mechanical==

Rail network The New Zealand rail network has around of line, of which about is electrified. At the network's peak in 1953, some of line was open. A 2009 study counted 1,787 bridges and 150 tunnels (totalling in length) on the rail network, but a 2011 study said there were 1,636 bridges, with a total length of and 145 tunnels, with a total length of . A 2021 Kiwirail report showed 106 tunnels and 1,344 bridges. Difficult terrain meant that some lines took years to complete, and has necessitated a number of complicated engineering feats, notably the Raurimu Spiral and Rimutaka Incline (the latter no longer in use). The network has been the subject of major upgrading works on a number of occasions. The biggest of these were the Westfield Deviation of the North Island Main Trunk from Auckland to Westfield Junction via Panmure and Glen Innes, opened 1930, the Tawa Flat deviation in Wellington, opened 1937; the Rimutaka deviation to the Wairarapa, opened 1955; and the Kaimai deviation in the Bay of Plenty, opened 1978. All of these involved major tunnelling works, of close to each in the two latter cases. Significant infrastructure improvements were also carried out on the North Island Main Trunk in the mid-1980s, some as part of the electrification scheme. As part of the 10-year Turnaround Plan announced in 2010, a number of regional lines were placed under threat of closure: all lines in Northland that form part of the North Auckland Line, the Stratford–Okahukura line in Taranaki (mothballed since 2009), the northern portion of the Wairarapa Line, the Gisborne – Napier section of the Palmerston North - Gisborne Line (mothballed due to storm damage north of Wairoa early 2012, mothballed Napier – Gisborne from October 2012) As part of KiwiRail's 10-year long-term plan, most new capital will be spent on locomotives, wagons and the Auckland – Wellington – Christchurch freight corridor. Signalling Six signalling systems are used in New Zealand: automatic signalling rules (ASR), double line automatic (DLA), single line automatic (SLA), centralised traffic control (CTC), track warrant control (TWC), and station limits. Signals are of the colour light type and operate on speed signalling principles, i.e. signals tell the driver what speed they should proceed, but not necessarily the route they will take. The Auckland suburban network is also equipped with European Train Control System (ETCS) Level 1 signalling and train protection. Signalboxes and signalling were supplied by McKenzie & Holland from their factory in Melbourne. The largest mechanical signal box in New Zealand was Frankton Junction, 85 miles south of Auckland, with 70 levers. Motive power Steam From its inception until the 1950s, steam locomotives were the main motive power on New Zealand's railways. Initially, steam locomotives were mostly imported from the United Kingdom from various manufacturers. The first major class was the F class tank locomotives, of which 88 were imported. From the 1870s, locomotives were imported from the United States, and generally found to be better suited to New Zealand's conditions, although the pro-British public and politicians preferred locomotives from the United Kingdom. Workshops The New Zealand Railways Department had major workshops at Addington (Christchurch), Easttown (Wanganui), Hillside (Dunedin), Petone (Lower Hutt, near Wellington) then Hutt (Lower Hutt, near Wellington) and Newmarket then Otahuhu, (Auckland). All were progressively closed (mostly in the 1980s), leaving only Hutt Workshops still operating. A number of small maintenance depots also currently operate, for example at Addington, Christchurch. In 2019 Hillside (Dunedin) which had been closed in 2012 was reopened. ==Accidents==

Safety regulation is the responsibility of the NZ Transport Agency. NZTA also investigates accidents and incidents with a view to ensuring regulations and rules were observed. The Transport Accident Investigation Commission may also inquire into selected accidents and incidents to determine the circumstances and causes and help prevent similar occurrences in the future. Modern signalling, train detection and communications systems, as well as an overall decline in rail passenger traffic, has greatly decreased the number of fatal accidents occurring on New Zealand's railway network. New Zealand's most serious rail disaster occurred on Christmas Eve 1953, during the visit of Queen Elizabeth II, when a lahar washed away the bridge in the Tangiwai disaster. 151 people died when the bridge collapsed as a Wellington-Auckland express passenger train was crossing it. The next most serious accident was the Hyde railway disaster of 1943, when the Cromwell–Dunedin express derailed after travelling at excessive speed. 21 people died. The driver was later found to have been intoxicated and was jailed for manslaughter. ==Heritage rail==

Heritage mainline passenger services Four heritage rail operators own and operate their own carriage and mainline-certified steam or diesel locomotive fleets. These are the Railway Enthusiasts Society, Steam Incorporated, Mainline Steam Trust and the Otago Excursion Train Trust (Dunedin Railways). These groups have operated special excursion trains on the national network since 1978, and have been allowed to use suitable locomotives to haul these trains since 1985. Heritage and museum railways About 60 groups operate railway heritage lines or museums, almost all members of the Federation of Rail Organisations of New Zealand. They include street tramways and bush tramways as well as railways. Large-scale rail preservation in New Zealand got underway in the 1960s when many steam locomotives were withdrawn and branch lines closed. Current operations of the heritage railway type include the Kingston Flyer, Glenbrook Vintage Railway, Bush Tramway Club, Waitara Railway Preservation Society, Weka Pass Railway, and Dunedin Railways. Dunedin Railways is a Council-controlled organisation (CCO) 72% owned by the Dunedin City Council and runs the Taieri Gorge Limited which is in length, and various other services around Dunedin and Otago. All other lines are operated by voluntary societies. The Weka Pass Railway at is the most lengthy of these. The Bay of Islands Vintage Railway is in length, but is in poor condition; having operated its first trains through Kawakawa since operations ceased in 2000 for two weeks from 3 July 2007, the Society is now working on rehabilitating the track between Kawakawa and Opua. == In popular culture ==

New Zealand National Film Unit Film Director David Sims completed a number of films on the history of New Zealand railways, including Main Trunk Century (2009); The Truth About Tangiwai (2002); Total Steam (1996); North Island Main Trunk (1995). In 2004–05 Television New Zealand (through Jam Productions) broadcast "Off The Rails" a 12-part journey on the then current rail network from Invercargill to Northland presented by Marcus Lush. ==See also==