Okahukura railway station | |||||||||||
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General information | |||||||||||
Location | New Zealand | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 38°48′06″S175°13′26″E / 38.801591°S 175.22378°E | ||||||||||
Elevation | 178 m (584 ft) | ||||||||||
Line(s) | North Island Main Trunk | ||||||||||
Distance | Wellington 408.54 km (253.85 mi) | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
Opened | 1912 | ||||||||||
Closed | Before Dec 1975 passenger 27 August 1978 goods [1] | ||||||||||
Electrified | June 1988 | ||||||||||
Previous names | Okahukora to 7 Aug 1913 | ||||||||||
Passengers | |||||||||||
1934 | 11,940 | ||||||||||
Services | |||||||||||
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Okahukura railway station was a station on the North Island Main Trunk in New Zealand. [2] [3]
The station opened when work started on the eastern end of the Stratford–Okahukura Line. It was served by through trains on that line from 3 September 1933 (though rails were completed by 7 November 1932) [4] to 2009, being 9.65 km (6.00 mi) east of Tuhua. [2] The Public Works Department operated a limited train service as far as Matiere from 1922. [5] A junction with the NIMT at Ongarue, [6] and even as far north as Puketutu [7] (via Mokauiti and Ohura) [8] had been considered before the Okahukura route was decided in 1911. [9] Work started shortly [10] after Sir Joseph Ward had turned the first sod, including the construction of workshops and 4 railway houses at Okahukura, [11] and the station opened the following year. It seems that the initial service was provided by coaches attached to goods trains. [12]
A cattle yard and goods shed were added in 1915. [13] In 1916 a porter was paid 9 shillings a week. [14]
Passenger numbers peaked in 1934, as shown in the graph and table below -
The concrete foundations of the 260 ft (79 m) [15] road-rail bridge over the Ongarue River, on the Stratford line had been laid by 1918, but war-time steel shortages delayed further work. [16] The first piles were sunk in 1916 [15] and it had been completed by January 1922. [17]
In 2019 reopening of the line was listed as a possible future priority. [18]
76 ch (5,000 ft; 1,500 m) long Okahukura tunnel, is 2 mi (3.2 km) up from Okahukura, along the Stratford line, on a 1 in 50 gradient. [6] It was started in February 1914 and completed in December 1920, after digging out 58,000 cu yd (44,000 m3) of mudstone. [15]
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 Stratford–Okahukura Line (SOL) is a secondary railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, between the Marton - New Plymouth Line (MNPL) and the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) Railway, with 15 intermediate stations. It is 144 km (89 mi) long through difficult country, with 24 tunnels, 91 bridges and a number of sections of 1 in 50 grade. Near Okahukura there is an unusual combined road-rail bridge over the Ongarue River, with the one-lane road carriageway below the single rail track. The line is not currently in service for rail traffic and is under a 30-year lease for a tourist venture. In July 2019 KiwiRail's CEO stated that reopening the line was a priority. Minister of Transport Michael Wood announced the government's 10-year plan for rail investment on 6 May 2021, which specifically stated that plans could include re-opening the Stratford to Okahukura line.
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