Rail transport in New Zealand is an integral part of New Zealand's transport network, with a nationwide network of 4,375.5 km (2,718.8 mi) of track linking most major cities in the North and South Islands, connected by inter-island rail and road ferries. Rail transport in New Zealand has a particular focus on bulk freight exports and imports, with 19 million net tonnes moved by rail annually, and 99.5% of New Zealand's exports and imports being transported through the country's seaports.
Blaenau Ffestiniog railway station serves the slate mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales, and is the passenger terminus of the Conwy Valley Line from Llandudno Junction. Transport for Wales Rail operate through services to Llandudno Junction and Llandudno. The station is a joint station with the narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway, which operates primarily tourist passenger services to Porthmadog throughout most of the year. A feature of the standard gauge service is the availability on trains and buses of the popular "Gwynedd Red Rover" day ticket.
The Foxton Branch was a railway line in New Zealand. It began life as a tramway, reopened as a railway on 27 April 1876, and operated until 18 July 1959. At Himatangi there was a junction with the Sanson Tramway, a line operated by the Manawatu County Council that was never upgraded to the status of a railway.
The North Auckland Line is a major section of New Zealand's national rail network, and is made up of the following parts: the portion of track that runs northward from Westfield Junction to Newmarket Station; from there, westward to Waitakere; from there, northward to Otiria via Whangārei. The first section was opened in 1868 and the line was completed in 1925. The line, or sections of it, have been known at various times as the Kaipara Line, the Waikato-Kaipara Line, the Kaipara Branch and the North Auckland Main Trunk.
The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway system. The Department was created in 1880 and was corporatised on 1 April 1982 into the New Zealand Railways Corporation. Originally, railway construction and operation took place under the auspices of the former provincial governments and some private railways, before all of the provincial operations came under the central Public Works Department. The role of operating the rail network was subsequently separated from that of the network's construction. From 1895 to 1993 there was a responsible Minister, the Minister of Railways. He was often also the Minister of Public Works.
Longburn is a rural settlement just outside Palmerston North in the Manawatū-Whanganui area of New Zealand. Made up of large dairy processing plants Longburn is often mistaken to be a small township and not seen as a large satellite town of Palmerston North. The township is home to both Longburn School and Longburn Adventist College.
The Palmerston North–Gisborne Line (PNGL) is a secondary main line railway in the North Island of New Zealand. It branches from the North Island Main Trunk at Palmerston North and runs east through the Manawatū Gorge to Woodville, where it meets the Wairarapa Line, and then proceeds to Hastings and Napier in Hawke's Bay before following the coast north to Gisborne. Construction began in 1872, but the entire line was not completed until 1942. The line crosses the runway of Gisborne Airport, one of the world's only railways to do so since Pakistan's Khyber Pass Railway closed.
The Marton–New Plymouth line (MNPL) is a secondary main line railway in the North Island of New Zealand that links the Taranaki and Manawatū-Whanganui regions. It branches from the North Island Main Trunk railway (NIMT) at Marton and runs near the South Taranaki Bight of the west coast before turning inland, meeting the Stratford–Okahukura Line (SOL) at Stratford and running to New Plymouth. Construction of the line was completed in 1885, and along with the SOL it provided an alternate route to the NIMT from the SOL's completion in 1933 until the latter was mothballed in 2010. In its early days it was plied by the North Island's first regional express, the New Plymouth Express, but it has been freight only since the cancellation of the last passenger services in 1977.
The Wanganui Branch is a 5.00 km branch line railway in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island. It links Wanganui with the Marton - New Plymouth Line (MNPL) at Aramoho and has been open since 21 January 1878, although solely for freight traffic since 7 September 1959. Another branch line diverged from the Wanganui Branch near its terminus, the Castlecliff Branch.
The Castlecliff Branch is a branch line railway 5.88 km long in the Manawatu-Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island. It is an extension of the Wanganui Branch from Taupo Quay in central Whanganui and follows the Whanganui River to Castlecliff on the South Taranaki Bight of the Tasman Sea. From its opening on 31 October 1885 until 1 February 1956 when the NZR took over, it was owned by the Wanganui Heads Railway Company, later renamed the Castlecliff Railway Company. From 5 September 2006 services on the branch were suspended but the infrastructure remained in place. In 2011 KiwiRail resumed services on part of the line.
Woodville railway station is the northern terminus of the Wairarapa Line and is located at the junction with the Palmerston North–Gisborne Line in the small Tararua town of Woodville, 27 km (17 mi) east of Palmerston North in New Zealand's North Island.
Pahiatua railway station is on the Wairarapa Line in New Zealand's North Island. It was opened in May 1897, shortly before the line was opened to Woodville in December of that year. The station is located in Mangamutu, 1.7 kilometres (1.1 mi) west of Pahiatua, in contrast to the original plans for the railway line to run through the town.
The Moutohora Branch was a branch line railway that formed part of New Zealand's national rail network in Poverty Bay in the North Island of New Zealand. The branch ran for 78 km approximately North-West from Gisborne into the rugged and steep Raukumara Range to the terminus at Moutohora. Construction started in 1900, and the line was opened to Moutohora on 26 November 1917.
The Brentford branch line, also known as the Brentford Dock Line, is a freight-only branch railway line in west London, England. The route, which opened in 1859, was backed by the Great Western Railway and built by the Great Western & Brentford Railway Company. It ran 4 mi (6.4 km) from Southall to Brentford Dock. In 1964, the line to the wharves was closed. The branch now runs from the Great Western Main Line to a goods yard and waste transfer station in Brentford.
Palmerston North railway station is a main station on the North Island Main Trunk serving the city of Palmerston North in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand.
Longburn railway station was a station in Longburn, on the North Island Main Trunk in New Zealand. The platform, which is across from the Fonterra Factory, remains but the structure has been demolished.
Awapuni railway station was a station in Kairanga County, on the Foxton Branch and, from 1908, the North Island Main Trunk in New Zealand, now in the Palmerston North suburb of Awapuni. It was beside the Mangaone Stream, near its confluence with the Kawau Stream, about 400 m (440 yd) west of Maxwells Line on the north side of Pioneer Highway. Nothing remains of the former station, except a wide verge, partly occupied by a cycleway, built in 2015.
Palmerston North Central railway station was a station on the North Island Main Trunk in New Zealand and the Palmerston North–Gisborne Line. The station opened in 1876 and closed in 1963.
Kopuaranga railway station was a flag station that served the small rural settlement of Kōpuaranga, 12½ km north of Masterton, in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand’s North Island. It was located on the Wairarapa Line between the stations of Opaki and Mauriceville. From its opening in 1886 it handled both passenger and freight traffic for 97 years until closure in 1983.
