Category: Rail Transport
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What Happened To Christchurch’s Commuter Trains (Part 1)
On 30 April 1976, the last remaining commuter train service in North Canterbury, the Christchurch to Rangiora workers’ train service, closed down. Since that time there have been no commuter train services operated in the Christchurch area. The commuter trains in Canterbury, which at one point included New Zealand’s first electric train passenger network, were…
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Kiwirail Needs Better Approach To Nuisance Alarm Activations
On Friday 21 July, a car was hit by a Wairarapa Connection commuter train at the Norfolk Road, Waingawa level crossing. This incident appears to be one of a number of problems that have occurred in relation to the railway crossings at Waingawa, a great deal of these problems being due to poor design and…
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Gisborne Line Saga Dates Back 40 Years
The debate over the viability and future of the Gisborne Line is not new and dates back 40 years. Having that knowledge will aid considerably in understanding the relevance and context of ongoing discussion over the railway between Napier and Gisborne. The Napier Gisborne Line (part of the Palmerston North Gisborne Line) opened in 1942.…
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Government Announces New Trains For Lower North Island
An article in Stuff’s Wellington newspaper, The Post, announced today that the government’s 2023 budget will including funding for 18 hybrid trains for the Kapiti and Wairarapa line services in the lower North Island. These trains run on the Wairarapa Line from Wellington to Masterton (excluding the Wellington commuter network) (The Wairarapa Connection services) and…
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Auckland Light Rail Has Never Been About The Airport.
Newsroom has just published a pair of articles by Mike Lee, an Auckland Councillor of quite some longstanding. He was on the Council from 2010 to 2019 and was re-elected in the local government elections last year. Before that he was a member of the Auckland Regional Council from 1992 to 2010, the last six…
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Incident at Otaihanga Road Level Crossing
There has been an incident at Otaihanga Road Level Crossing – ALCAM #332 at 51.61 km on the NIMT between Paraparaumu and Waikanae. A train was stopped close to, but not on, the crossing, due to a failure, and the barrier arms remained down for about a 15 minute period before the train was able…