Start of the Main North Line, heading north under the old Blenheim Road overpass in the distance, and to the left under the new Blenheim Road overpass to Christchurch railway station. The original route of the line was just to the right of the photographer.
The Main North Line, sometimes referred to as part of the South Island Main Trunk railway, is a railway line that runs north from Christchurch in New Zealand up the east coast of the South Island through Kaikōura and Blenheim to Picton. It is a major link in New Zealand's national rail network and offers a connection with roll-on roll-offferries from Picton to Wellington. It was also the longest railway construction project in New Zealand's history, with the first stages built in the 1870s and not completed until 1945.
Construction
The first proposal for a line resembling the present day Main North Line was made in 1861. A proposal for a line linking Christchurch and Blenheim was put before the Marlborough Provincial Council in April 1861. Later that year, the national government passed the Picton Railway Act [1] in October, approving a line from Picton to the Wairau River under the auspices of the Marlborough Provincial Council.[2] The political authorisation did not translate into actual construction and no work on building the line was undertaken in the 1860s. The Canterbury Provincial Railways began to extend their 1,600mm (5ft3in)broad gauge network north from Christchurch through Kaiapoi (29 April 1872),[3]Southbrook (July 1872,[4] the extension to Rangiora being delayed by lack of chairs),[5]Rangiora (5 November 1872)[6] Balcairn (3 November 1875)[7] and Amberley (9 February 1876),[8] reaching Waipara on 29 September 1880[9] - by this stage, the Canterbury network had been re-gauged to the national gauge of 1,067mm (3ft6in)narrow gauge and acquired by the central government.
In the north in Marlborough, a railway from Blenheim to Picton was one of the first railways built under Vogel's "Great Public Works Policy". Authorised by the Railways Act, 1870,[10] to cost £3500 (pounds sterling) per mile.
Nelson also sought a connection to the national network, possibly via an extension of the east coast main line or a branch line from it. The first portion of the Nelson Section railway opened in January 1876, and gradually extended towards the West Coast.
In the 1880s, work ground to a halt as debate raged over what route to construct. An 1880 Royal Commission on the state of New Zealand's railways felt that an east coast main line would be premature, but possibly necessary in the future. Contrarily, regional actors in Canterbury, Marlborough, Nelson, and the West Coast argued passionately in favour of the proposals that best suited their interests. Canterbury slowly progressed its "Great Northern Railway" and pursued an inland route from Waipara, reaching Waikari in 1882, Medbury in 1884, and Culverden in 1886. Also in 1882, the Middle Island Railway Extension Commission ('Middle Island' then being the name for the South Island) was established to study proposals for a line northwards, including the following routes:
from Culverden to Hanmer Springs and Tophouse, with the line splitting into two branches in Tophouse, one to Nelson and the other down the Wairau River valley to Blenheim.
from Culverden up the Waiau River to Reefton, New Zealand, establishing a trans-Alpine route to the West Coast, followed by a line up the Buller Gorge to Nelson. (At this stage, no route for the Midland Line connecting the east and west coasts had been chosen; this was one of a number of candidates.)
The Awatere River double-decker bridge, located near Seddon. The upper deck carries the railway and the lower deck carried State Highway 1 until October 2007.
Interests in Marlborough favoured the coastal proposal and began work on extending their railway south from Blenheim. Canterbury appeared indecisive on a route north; once Culverden was reached in 1886, it was treated as the terminus of the east coast main line, then after roughly 15 years of inactivity, work began on a coastal "branch" north from Waipara at the start of the 20th century. This reached Scargill in 1902, Ethelton in 1905, Domett in 1907, Cheviot in 1910 (the station was in nearby Mina), and in 1912 the line crossed the Waiau River with a 706-metre-long (2,316ft) bridge and was opened to Parnassus. Over the next two years, work progressed from Parnassus up the Leader River valley, with roughly three kilometres of track laid, a few more kilometres of formation made, preliminary activity undertaken for a diversion of the Hookhamsnyvy Creek, and work commenced on a bridge across the Leader River. The line was envisaged to then follow a series of inland valleys (such as those of the Conway and Charwell Rivers) to Kaikōura. The outbreak of World War I led to a halt on construction and the track beyond Parnassus was removed. At the Marlborough end, the line was extended southward from Blenheim to reach Seddon in 1902 and Ward in 1911. The line reached Wharanui, 13km (8.1mi) south of Ward, before the onset of World War I saw construction halted.
Not all work was postponed by the war. A campaign to extend the line from Culverden to Waiau was successful and construction continued through the war, with the line opened to Waiau on 15 December 1919. This boosted the hopes of those seeking an inland route, and more work was undertaken, with 3km of formation built for a line from Waiau to Kaikōura, but ultimately nothing came of this proposal and the terminus remained in Waiau. The 1920s saw little progress made on the Main North Line as various interest groups, governments, and expert reports contested to achieve their respective desired outcomes. At this stage, both the Leader Valley and Tophouse routes were still possibilities, but it was around this time that proposals of a route out of Parnassus in a more easterly direction than the Leader Valley began to be formulated. This became the present-day route.
In the late 1920s, construction finally recommenced on the coastal line south of Wharanui, but this soon stopped again when the Great Depression's effects began to be severely felt. Public pressure for a resumption of work was strong, and as the economy was starting to improve in 1936 the government issued orders for completion in four years. In 1939, the line beyond Parnassus was opened to Hundalee, but the outbreak of World War II created more delays and the goal of completion in four years was not achieved. Construction continued through the war, and not long after the resumption of peace the northern and southern railheads met in Kaikōura. The Main North Line from Christchurch to Picton was completed and officially opened on 15 December 1945.
Stations
The Public Works Department named new stations, and sometimes aroused local opposition. In 1914 a station south of the River Ure was to be named "Mills" after the local MP Charles Mills. But a petition from 40 locals asked that a Māori or flora name be used, so it was called "Wharanu". And when a local committee could not agree on another name, they agreed to use the first words uttered by a late-arriving member. When the chairman told him of their decision on his arrival, his immediate reply was "No! Not I". So "No Noti" later "Nonoti" was adopted as the official name; as shown on the small station in the thirties, and in the Gazetteer and maps.[11]
Operation
A Picton-bound TranzCoastal service departing Christchurch station
For a number of decades before the connection of the northern and southern ends, the Canterbury section was operated with its terminus in Culverden, even when the coastal route reached Parnassus. The most important passenger train was the Culverden Express, with carriages for Parnassus detached at Waipara. The express was supplemented by slower mixed trains. When the Waiau Branch reached Waiau in 1919 one goods train per day between Christchurch and Culverden was added to the schedule and the passenger train operated twice daily; these services continued to Waiau thrice weekly. The section of the Main North Line between Christchurch and Rangiora also saw commuter services and trains from the Oxford Branch and Eyreton Branch.
In the mid-1920s, Parnassus became the primary terminus and the carriages detached in Waipara were conveyed to Culverden. During this period the train was used for trials of the 'Midland Red' paint scheme that came to be used nationwide for passenger carriages until the 1990s.
In 1930, a Royal Commission on New Zealand's railways suggested all passenger services on the southern and northern sections be replaced by mixed trains, but this was not positively received by the public. On 29 January 1939, the passenger services on the Waiau line were cancelled.
When the line was completed, the Picton Express left Christchurch at 8.25am and reached at Picton at 4.35pm, over 2 hours faster than the previous links.[12] During holidays it ran 6 days a week, but otherwise the coal-saving timetable was on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.[13] From 13 February 1956, the RM class88 seaterrailcars were introduced to New Zealand and they were placed on a 6 days a week service between Christchurch and Picton, cutting times to 7 hours, with 34 stops, and then, in 1959, 6 hours 40 mins, with 23 stops. The railcars were converted for locomotive haulage from 5 December 1977 and the journey reduced to 6 hours by 1982.[14]
The scenic value of the route, especially through the Kaikōura area, led to the creation of the tourist-focused Coastal Pacific, an express passenger train that ran between Christchurch and Picton in 5 hours and 20 minutes. It began on 25 September 1988 and, in May 2000,[14] renamed as the TranzCoastal. In the summer of 1994/1995 this service was supplemented by the Lynx Express which ran to a faster timetable and was designed to connect with the Lynx fast ferry service in Picton. It was unsuccessful and did not operate in subsequent summers, partly due to delays from the risk of track buckling.[14]
The TranzCoastal was suspended as a result of the major Christchurch earthquake in February 2011 and did not resume until August that year, returning to the original Coastal Pacific name. The line was closed by major slips as a result of the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake with a freight train being left stranded north of Kaikōura. The line between Picton and Spring Creek yard remained open to allow rail wagon freight from the Interislander ferries to be transshipped to road and vice versa. The section of line from Spring Creek south to Lake Grassmere reopened on 16 January 2017.[15] Works to restore the line were completed on 8 August 2017, and limited freight services were restored on 15 September 2017.[16][17][18]
In November 2018, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that KiwiRail is to get $40 million from the Provincial Growth Fund, to provide a year-round service by the Coastal Pacific and to upgrade the Kaikōura, Blenheim and Picton stations.[19]
On 25 May 2021, construction finished on bypassing the No. 21 (Tar Barrel) Tunnel with a new cutting and an overpass under State Highway 1.[20][21]
Freight
Freight increased from 15 trains a week southbound in 1952, to 29 in 1988 and 36 in 2001. It totalled about a million tonnes a year before the 2016 earthquake. A 1994 attempt to regain Auckland-Christchurch freight, with a 24-hour journey, lasted only a couple of years and by 2012 rail's share of that traffic was 28%, road's 57% and ship's 15%.[14]
A, J and JA class steam locomotives were used on parts of the line until it was completed in 1945, when AB class locomotives took over most work. Diesels took over between 1962 and 1968, initially DG class, then from 1968 DJ class, followed by the DF class from 1979 and then DX class locomotives from 1988, relocated to the South Island due to the electrification of the North Island Main Trunk.[14]
Branch lines
Addington Junction, the point at which the Main North Line meets the Main South Line
The Main North Line parts from the Main South Line in Christchurch. Unlike the Main South Line, few branch lines diverged from the Main North Line. The three that did were:
In 1960, work commenced on a line to link Nelson and Blenheim (see Nelson railway proposals), but a change of government led to a change in policy and this project was halted. Presently, no lines branch from the Main North Line, though the first 13km of the Waiau Branch has been restored as the Weka Pass Railway and it retains a connection to the Main North Line in Waipara.
Related Research Articles
The Weka Pass Railway is a New Zealand heritage railway based in Waipara, North Canterbury. It is operated on a 12.8 km length of the former Waiau Branch railway between Waipara and Waikari. The railway is operated by an incorporated society which consists solely of members and volunteers, and are largely resident in the city of Christchurch, 60 km to the south. The railway began carrying passengers in 1984 and is now well established locally and nationally.
The Main North Line between Picton and Christchurch and the Main South Line between Lyttelton and Invercargill, running down the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand, are sometimes together referred to collectively as the South Island Main Trunk Railway (SIMT). Construction of a line running the length of the east coast began in the 1860s and was completed all the way from Picton to Invercargill in 1945; the last sections being on the Main North Line south of Picton. The designation "South Island Main Trunk" originally referred to only that line between Christchurch and Invercargill.
Waiau is a small town in north Canterbury, in the South Island of New Zealand. It lies 30 kilometres (19 mi) east of Hanmer Springs on the northern bank of the Waiau Uwha River, some 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the river's mouth. There is a small supermarket, a DIY store and a petrol station.
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.
The Coastal Pacific is a long-distance passenger train that runs between Picton and Christchurch in the South Island of New Zealand. It is operated by the Great Journeys New Zealand division of KiwiRail. It was called the TranzCoastal from May 2000 until temporarily withdrawn in February 2011. It was the first train to use the new AK class carriages.
The Waiau Branch was a branch line railway in the northern Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. Known as the Great Northern Railway for its first few decades of life, the Waiau Branch was seen as part of a main line north but was ultimately superseded by a coastal route. Opened in stages from 1882 to 1919, the line closed in 1978 but a portion has been retained as the Weka Pass Railway.
Medbury is a rural locality in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It is located just off State Highway 7 near the Hurunui River. There is no longer a significant population base forming a township, just rural properties.
Culverden is a small town in the northern Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It lies at the centre of the Amuri Plain. Culverden has traditionally been surrounded by sheep farms. Dairy farms have now become more common as a result of irrigation schemes in the area. The Waiau Plains Irrigation Scheme was completed in 1980. It provides irrigation to 17,000 hectares of farmland and the Balmoral Scheme provides irrigation to a further 5500 hectares.
Tophouse, also known as Tophouse Settlement, is a rural locality in the Tasman District of New Zealand's South Island, some 8 km northeast of Saint Arnaud. It is named after a hotel established in the 19th century to service drovers transporting their sheep between Canterbury and Marlborough. The hotel is still in operation today and has an eventful history, including a double murder suicide in October 1894. For many years, "Tophouse" referred specifically to the hotel, but it has also been used to refer to the general vicinity, and on 20 February 2001, the New Zealand Geographic Board assigned the name "Tophouse Settlement" to the area.
Weka Pass is a locality in the northern Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island between the towns of Waipara and Waikari.
Parnassus is a locality in the Canterbury region's Hurunui District on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is located on the north bank of the Waiau River.
The Stillwater Ngākawau Line (SNL), formerly the Stillwater–Westport Line (SWL) and the Ngakawau Branch, is a secondary main line, part of New Zealand's national rail network. It runs between Stillwater and Ngakawau via Westport on the West Coast of the South Island. It was one of the longest construction projects in New Zealand's history, with its first section, at the south end, opened in 1889, and the beginnings of the Ngākawau Branch, at its Westport end, in 1875. The full line was completed in 1942. The only slower railway projects were Palmerston North to Gisborne, 1872 to 1942, and the Main North Line to Picton, 1872 to 1945.
The New Zealand Railways Road Services (NZRRS) was a branch of the New Zealand Railways Department and later the New Zealand Railways Corporation. It operated long-distance, tourist and suburban bus services and freight trucking and parcel services. Its name was New Zealand Railways Road Motor Service until mid-1936.
The Culverden Express was a passenger train operated by the New Zealand Railways Department between Christchurch and Culverden. It ran from 1886 until its replacement by the Picton Express in 1945 and its route followed both the Main North Line and the Waiau Branch. In the mid-1920s, the main northern terminus became Parnassus, and to reflect this, the name was changed to the Parnassus Express.
The Picton Express was a passenger express train operated by the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) between Christchurch and Picton. It ran from December 1945 until February 1956, and was thus the shortest-lived provincial express in New Zealand. Following the end of railcar services in 1976, a new carriage train between Christchurch and Picton began, under the same name as the earlier service, until it was replaced in 1988 by the Coastal Pacific Express.
Rail transport in Christchurch, the largest city on New Zealand's South Island, consists of two main trunk railway lines intersecting in the suburb of Addington, carrying mainly long-haul freight traffic but also two long distance tourist-oriented passenger trains. The two lines are the Main North Line and Main South Line, collectively but unofficially known as the South Island Main Trunk Railway. There is a heritage line at the Ferrymead Historic Park that is operated with steam, electric, and diesel motive power hauling tourist-oriented services.
The Hāpuku River begins in the Seaward Kaikōura Range of New Zealand and flows south-east to enter the South Pacific at Hapuka, between Clarence and Kaikōura. The name comes from the Māori word hāpuku or hāpuka, a deep-water marine fish. Its main tributary is the Puhi Puhi River.
The Ngatapa Branch was a secondary branch line railway 18.5 kilometres (11.5 mi) long that for a short time formed part of the national rail network in Poverty Bay in the North Island of New Zealand. The Ngatapa branch diverged from the Moutohora branch line about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from Gisborne and ran a further 12.5 kilometres (7.8 mi) across the coastal flat to a terminus at Ngatapa. It was sometimes referred to as the Ngapata branch.
A railway refreshment room is a catering facility attached to a railway station that was formerly common in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. They were opened in the 19th century to serve passengers when trains did not convey catering facilities, and thus served passengers en route. Refreshment rooms were similar to tearooms, and generally served a variety of hot drinks, pastries, cakes, and light meals. With the introduction of buffet and restaurant cars, their importance began to decline.
Churchman, Geoffrey B; Hurst, Tony (1992). South Island Main Trunk. Wellington: IPL Books. ISBN0-908876-78-5.
Churchman, Geoffrey B.: On the TranzCoastal Route: Christchurch-Picton-Wellington, Transpress NZ, 2005
Churchman, Geoffrey B; Hurst, Tony (2001) [1990, 1991]. The Railways of New Zealand: A Journey through History (Seconded.). Transpress New Zealand. ISBN0-908876-20-3.
Leitch, David, and Scott, Brian; Exploring New Zealand's Ghost Railways, Grantham House, 1998 revised edition
Merrifield, ALR (Rob) (2018). The Kaikoura Job: Rebuilding KiwiRail's Main North Line. Wellington: NZ Railway & Locomotive Society. ISBN978-0-908573-96-7.
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