More than one hundred years have elapsed since New Zealand's first public railway, worked with steam locomotives, was opened for traffic in the Canterbury Province. This pioneer line, 4 miles in length, extended from Christchurch to a temporary river port at Ferrymead. Opened on 1 December 1863 it represented the first stage in the construction of a railway from Christchurch to the deep-water port of Lyttelton – an ambitious scheme necessitating the driving of a 1 ½-mile tunnel through the high range of hills which separated the harbour from the plains. A remarkable feature of this project is that it was conceived as early as 1854, or within four years of the arrival of the main body of Canterbury settlers. The route of the railway, including the tunnel, was recommended in 1859 by George Robert Stephenson – nephew of the illustrious George – and work began at the Lyttelton portal in 1860. The headings of the tunnel met in May 1867, and on 9 December of the same year the Lyttelton and Christchurch Railway was officially declared open for traffic.
A similar necessity for adequate transport facilities prompted the settlers of Southland to embark on a programme of railway construction. Two lines were built: a 17-mile link between Bluff Harbour and Invercargill, opened on 5 February 1867; and an 8-mile, wooden-rail tramway between Invercargill and Makarewa, opened on 18 October 1864. Both these railway ventures strained the financial resources of the Southland Provincial Council, and contributed to its eventual bankruptcy.
As surveyed by the Auckland Provincial Council in 1863, Auckland's first railway was to extend from the Waitemata Harbour to Drury, 22 miles, with a branch to Onehunga, and was to cost £100,000. In 1866, when work came to a standstill, nearly all the money had been expended, yet only a few miles of formation had been completed. For six years the project lay virtually abandoned, until in 1872 it was revived by the General Government.
As early as 1863 the Otago Provincial Council had formed a Railways Department headed by a chief railway engineer. But it was private enterprise that built the first railway in Otago, a narrow-gauge line from Dunedin to Port Chalmers. This railway was purchased by the General Government in 1872.
With their limited resources, Wellington and the other provinces could not command the capital necessary for extensive railway construction. Moreover, from 1867 they were forbidden by the General Government to raise loans independently for railways and other public works, with justification, for the provincial record in the field of railway construction makes sorry reading. Indeed, it was providential that the provincial councils did not make better progress, for New Zealand narrowly averted being committed, like Australia, to the inconvenience and expense of trans-shipment at break-of-gauge stations. Fortunately, the General Government adopted the only course possible. It decided to build all railways on a national rather than on a provincial basis. And it adopted a uniform gauge of 3 ft 6 in.
In 1870 the Colonial Treasurer, Julius Vogel, startled the colony with an ambitious and imaginative proposal to build a national network of light railways similar to those he had seen in North America. To carry out his proposal Vogel planned to borrow within 10 years the sum of £10 million and, to provide the necessary manpower, he envisaged large-scale immigration. To appreciate fully the magnitude of this scheme, one must bear in mind that New Zealand's European population at that time was only a quarter of a million. In the whole country there existed less than 50 miles of public railways. The “Vogel Railways” were intended to facilitate the settlement and development of land, and to provide outlets for the products of farm, mine, and forest. Of a uniform 3 ft 6 in. gauge, they were built as cheaply as possible, and were expected to produce revenue quickly. High operating costs, low speeds, and inconvenience in operation were accepted as necessary evils. The general plan was to complete and extend provincial lines already begun, and eventually to have a Main Trunk line running the length of each island, with branch lines into the interior. Political pressure brought to bear by local interests soon forced the Government to make many deviations from its original plan, resulting in piecemeal construction and expenditure that quite often was unwarranted.
Some of the earliest lines, such as Auckland-Mercer, Wellington – Lower Hutt, Picton-Blenheim, and Dunedin-Balclutha, were let on contract to the English firm of John Brogden and Sons. Others were constructed in short sections by local contractors. When allowance is made for the lack of mechanical equipment, the rapid rate of construction was remarkable. By early 1879, when the initial “boom” ended and a series of financial depressions began, 1,136 miles of railway were in operation – 339 miles in the North Island and 797 miles in the South, including a 390-mile main line from Lyttelton to Bluff. In all, more than 1,000 miles had been built since the launching of Vogel's public works policy.
During the depressions of the eighties and nineties railway construction continued fairly steadily, if somewhat haphazardly, and by the turn of the century there were 10 separate sections of line with an aggregate route length of more than 2,000 miles. In addition, a considerable number of short lines had been constructed by private interests under various statutes such as the District Railways Act 1877 and the Railways Construction and Land Act 1881. Nearly all these privately owned lines were eventually acquired by the Government. The largest and most successful was the 83-mile Wellington and Manawatu Railway, between Wellington and Longburn. Completed in 1886, it was purchased at the end of 1908.
In the first decade of the twentieth century the pattern of the national railway system became more clearly defined. Wellington had long been connected with New Plymouth and Napier, and Auckland with Rotorua and Thames. The North Island Main Trunk Railway, reaching into the remote and mountainous highlands of the King Country, was officially declared completed on 6 November 1908, when the northern and southern railheads met in the forest at a point almost midway between Auckland and Wellington. By far the greatest project of its kind ever attempted in this country, the 426-mile railway had taken more than 40 years to build.
Between the end of the First World War in 1918 and that of the Second World War in 1945, several other vitally important rail links were completed. Westland was connected with Canterbury in 1923 by means of the 5 ¼-mile Otira Tunnel; Whangarei was connected with the main North Island system in 1925, followed by Tauranga in 1928; New Plymouth gained a direct connection with Auckland in 1933; Gisborne and Dargaville were joined with other North Island lines in 1942; and the isolated Westport section became part of the South Island system in 1943. Two years later, in 1945, the Christchurch-Picton main line was completed, thus providing through rail communication between Queen Charlotte Sound and Bluff. The decade of the fifties saw the building of new railways to tap the vast exotic forests of the North Island pumice lands. An 18-mile branch line from Putaruru to Tokoroa and Kinleith was completed in 1952, and 50 miles of new line to serve the Tasman Pulp and Paper Co's. mills at Kawerau were brought into use between 1955 and 1957.
The trend in the immediate future would appear to be one of consolidation rather than expansion. Already many uneconomic lines have been closed. Thus New Zealand's railway route milage, which reached its peak of 3,558 miles in 1953, had been reduced to 3,254 miles by 1 April 1965. It could shrink even further before the next phase of construction begins.
The Government railway system of New Zealand is administered by a General Manager with headquarters in Wellington. Political responsibility for the operation of the system is vested in a Minister of Railways, who delegates to the General Manager such of his powers, duties, and functions as he considers necessary. The principal statute under which the railway service functions is the Government Railways Act.
The Railways Department is divided into branches, each responsible for a particular aspect of operations, and each controlled by an executive officer in Wellington to whom the General Manager sub-delegates certain of his powers. The principal branches, in alphabetical order, are: Commercial; Finance and Accounts; Mechanical; Publicity and Advertising; Refreshment; Road Services; Stores; Traffic; and Way and Works. Most of these branches are divided into districts and subdistricts for convenience in administration and operation. Traditionally, the Railways Department is responsible only for the working and maintenance of railways. New lines are constructed by the Ministry of Works in accordance with Government policy. When completed, such new lines, together with all capital liabilities, are handed over to the Railways Department.
During their 100 years of existence the railways of New Zealand have experienced many changes in the form of management. In the beginning, the Provincial Councils of Canterbury, Southland, and Otago each had a Railway Department under the control of a General Manager. When the General Government built its own railways, in Canterbury and Otago, it handed them over to the Provincial Councils for operation, but all other sections of line were administered by the Engineer-in-Chief of the Public Works Department. With the abolition of the Provincial Councils, in 1876, all railways came under the control of the Minister for Public Works, although the actual administration was left to the Engineer-in-Chief, and through him to a Superintending Engineer.
In 1878 two Railway Commissioners were appointed, one for each island, but this divided control did not prove satisfactory and 1880 saw the appointment of a General Manager, with administrative responsibility for all opened railways. At the same time the functions of construction and operation were divorced, and the Railways Department came into being. Not until 1895, however, did the railways receive their decree absolute in the form of a Minister of Railways.
With two exceptions – the autonomous Railway Commission of 1889–94, and the quasi-independent Government Railways Board of 1931–36 – the railways have remained under direct ministerial control. Other periods of board or commission management were 1925–28 (Board of Management), and 1953–56 (New Zealand Railways Commission). No satisfactory alternative to a General Manager, working in close liaison with his Minister, has yet been evolved.
For the first 45 years of their existence as a self-administered undertaking, the railways of New Zealand were handicapped by an inadequate accounting system which made no provision for depreciation or other reserves. Between 1880, when the Railways Department was established as a separate entity, and 1925, when the financial system was modernised, railway net revenue to the extent of some £36 million was paid into the Consolidated Fund. This amount was almost exactly equal to the capital expenditure on railways during that period, but it was not regarded as a means of reducing the Railways Department's capital liabilities, other than interest due. At the close of the 1964–65 financial year, the capital invested in New Zealand Railways (including all subsidiary services) was £159.4 million. This amount, representing the cost of “open lines” and other assets, was made up as follows:
| £ | |
| North Island main line and branches | 100,566,828 |
| South Island main line and branches | 44,447,081 |
| Lake Wakatipu steamer service | 22,781 |
| Cook Strait rail-road ferry service | 1,888,680 |
| Subsidiary services | 12,433,876 |
| Total capital invested | £159,359,246 |
Interest charges on this capital investment amounted to £6,979,916 for the year.
By a recent decision of Government, it was decided to reduce the Department's liability by £70,000,000 as from 1 April 1965. It was appreciated that a substantial proportion of the book assets represented lines closed over the years and that other items had become obsolete as a result of technological and other changing circumstances. The new capital structure is allowing for such reductions and will do much to make the railways a progressive force in the national economy.
During the 10 financial years 1954–55 to 1963–64, the gross earnings of the Railways Department consistently exceeded £30 million, and for the year ended 31 March 1965 reached a record total of £42,658,753. Railway operations for the 1964–65 financial year earned £36.4 million, while road services produced a further £3.0 million. Revenue from subsidiary and miscellaneous non-operating sources came to £1.5 million.
Gross working expenditure of the Railways Department during the year ending 31 March 1965 was £41,473,846, leaving an operating surplus of £1,184,907. This represented an operating ratio of 97.2 per cent. By far the heaviest single item of expenditure was wages and salaries (61.6 per cent). Locomotive fuel, by comparison, accounted for only 4.1 per cent.
Generally speaking, railway operations in the North Island return a substantial working surplus. In the South Island, with its smaller population, lighter traffic, and shorter hauls, the annual working loss is almost as great as the North Island surplus. The losses in the South Island will undoubtedly be reduced by closing uneconomic branch lines, by the development of new manufacturing and processing industries, and by increased rail traffic caused by the operations of the Cook Strait ferries Aramoana and Aranui.
| (Year Ended 31 March 1965) | |
| Railway Operations: | £ |
| North Island | 25,354,498 |
| South Island | 11,038,533 |
| 36,393,031 | |
| Road Services | 3,049,347 |
| Cook Strait Ferry Service | 1,683,800 |
| Subsidiary Services: | |
| Lake Wakatipu steamer | 19,127 |
| Advertising | 103,985 |
| Dwellings | 433,366 |
| Buildings | 107,832 |
| 41,790,488 | |
| Miscellaneous Non-operating | |
| Revenue | 868,265 |
| Total | 42,658,753 |
| (Year Ended 31 March 1965) | |
| Railway Operations: | £ |
| North Island | 22,831,437 |
| South Island | 13,134,883 |
| 35,966,320 | |
| Road Services | 3,026,532 |
| Cook Strait Ferry Service | 888,845 |
| Subsidiary Services: | |
| Lake Wakatipu steamer | 34,824 |
| Advertising | 93,036 |
| Dwellings | 1,352,424 |
| Buildings | 111,865 |
| Total | 41,473,846 |
| 1939 | 1964 | |
| Average number of employees | 24,342* | 24,515* |
| Man-hours worked (Working Expenses Account) | 40,411,309 | 51,366,916 |
| Passengers carried (rail only) | 23,265,768 | 25,734,513 |
| Goods tonnage carried | 7,539,012 | 11,090,174 |
| Train-milage (revenue) | 13,072,615 | 14,918,270 |
| Gross ton-miles produced (thousands) | 2,815,410 | 4,439,900 |
| Increase in gross ton-miles | .. | 63.4% |
| Increase in average number of employees | .. | 0.7% |
| Increase in gross ton-miles produced per employee | .. | 50.7% |
*Actual railway operating and maintenance staffs, (excluding Head Office, Accounts, Stores, and Subsidiary Services) were: 1939, 21,757; 1964, 21,399.
| Average Number of Employees in Each Branch | ||
| Branch | 1965 | 1955 |
| No. | No. | |
| Head Office | 368 | 288 |
| Mechanical (except Workshops) | 3,593 | 3,434 |
| Publicity and Advertising | 61 | 58 |
| Refreshment | 355 | 414 |
| Road Services | 1,499 | 1,563 |
| Stores and Sawmills | 492 | 494 |
| Traffic | 7,125 | 7,545 |
| Way and Works | 5,674 | 5,927 |
| Workshops | 4,940 | 4,963 |
| 24,107 | 24,686 |
In a normal year's operations New Zealand Railways carry nearly 50 million passengers by rail, road, and lake steamer. An analysis of passenger traffic during the year ended 31 March 1965 shows that 2.8 million passengers travelled by long-distance trains and railcars, and 22.3 million by suburban trains in the Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin districts. N.Z.R. Road Services carried 23.0 million passengers – 14.0 million on suburban omnibuses and a further 9.0 million on long-distance coaches.
The Cook Strait rail-road ferry vessel Aramoana conveyed 206,712 passengers between the North and South Islands, and on Lake Wakatipu the veteran steamship Earnslaw carried a further 25,432.
Long-distance rail-passenger traffic, which for many years fell steadily in the face of competition from private motorcars, bus services, and airlines, appears to be becoming stabilised as a result of improved services, concession fares, and more aggressive promotion. Much lost traffic could undoubtedly be regained, and new traffic won, with the aid of thoroughly modern equipment and facilities. A great deal has been achieved in recent years, but a considerable leeway has to be made up. For example, no new passenger coaches have been built for Main Trunk express trains since 1945, and some innovations such as air conditioning and on-train refreshment facilities, regarded as essentials in other countries, are not yet provided in New Zealand.
Like the railroads of America, the railways of New Zealand are primarily freight carriers. Indeed, more than 90 per cent of their operating revenue comes from goods and livestock traffic. During 1964–65 more than 11.2 million tons of freight and 6.6 million head of livestock were transported over an average distance of 119 miles. Raw materials for farms and industries – in the form of coal, lime, fertiliser, timber, and cement – constitute almost half the total freight traffic. Other important commodities are the products of the land – dairy produce, wool, grain, fruit, vegetables, and meat. Destined for both domestic consumption and for export, these commodities add up to over 1 ½ million tons a year. A sign of the times is the gradual falling off in the quantity of coal and grain carried by rail, and substantial increases in the tonnages of manures and timber. Timber has become one of the most important individual commodities handled, particularly since the establishment of pulp and paper mills at Kinleith and Kawerau. Whereas in 1946 timber represented only 7 ½ per cent of the total tonnage, in 1965 it represented 21 per cent.
Merchandise and general goods constitute approximately a quarter of the total tonnage. An important development in the transport of this class of freight has been the institution of the bulk-tonnage system, which is a means whereby large firms and forwarding agents, who can provide regular traffic in wagonload quantities, are encouraged to use rail transport for inter-city freight movements at adjusted or compensating freight rates.
| (Year Ended 31 March 1965) | ||
| Commodity | Tons Carried | Percentage of Total Tonnage |
| Animals | 483,554 | 4.12 |
| Cement | 313,524 | 2.67 |
| Coal | 1,707,312 | 14.56 |
| Dairy produce | 261,274 | 2.23 |
| Dairy by-products | 155,772 | 1.33 |
| Fats, hides, and skins | 78,415 | 0.67 |
| Fish | 5,221 | 0.04 |
| Fruit and vegetables | 66,858 | 0.56 |
| Grain and seeds | 261,042 | 2.23 |
| Lime | 192,370 | 1.64 |
| Logs, ex Murupara | 1,125,666 | 9.60 |
| Manures | 1,324,391 | 11.30 |
| Meal | 92,364 | 0.79 |
| Meat | 541,074 | 4.61 |
| Miscellaneous | 2,915,945 | 24.98 |
| Petroleum products | 418,881 | 3.57 |
| Road materials | 57,575 | 0.49 |
| Root crops and fodder | 103,950 | 0.89 |
| Timber | 860,792 | 7.34 |
| Timber pulp products | 494,657 | 4.22 |
| Wool | 252,478 | 2.16 |
| 11,713,115 | 100.00 | |
| Local haulage | 244,656 | |
| Road traffic, door-to-door | 13,863 | |
| 11,971,634 |
New Zealand is a country in which it has not been easy to build railways. It is a land of mountains and high hills, deeply scarred by river valleys, with an upthrust coastline that in many areas is notoriously unstable for civil engineering works. Even on the relatively few open plains, such as are found in Canterbury, railway builders have had to contend with swift-flowing, unpredictable rivers. More than 2,600 bridges and viaducts carry railway tracks over river and gorge. Some of these bridges are noteworthy for their length; others are relatively short but high. The longest railway bridges are in the South Island, over the sprawling, snow-fed rivers that cross the Canterbury Plains on their way from the Southern Alps to the sea. The Rakaia River bridge, for example, is over a mile in length. By comparison, the longest bridge in the North Island – across the south end of the Tauranga Harbour – is 1,400 ft long. On the other hand, most of the very high steel viaducts are located in the North Island, although there are some of considerable height on the Midland and Central Otago lines in the South Island. Highest of all New Zealand railway viaducts is the one over the Mohaka Gorge, on the line between Napier and Gisborne. It stands 312 ft above the river. On the same railway are four other viaducts ranging in height from 215 ft to 255 ft. In the mountainous central region of the North Island, the Main Trunk line crosses several spectacular steel viaducts, of which Makatote (258 ft) and Makohine (238 ft) are the highest, and Mangaweka (946 ft) the longest. The most outstanding of the South Island viaducts is the one at Staircase, on the Midland line. Spanning a tributary of the Waimakariri at a point where it joins the main river, the viaduct is 235 ft high.
Although the early railway builders did their best to reduce construction costs by avoiding tunnels wherever possible, they frequently found that tunnelling was cheaper than going round an obstruction. Even so, most of the tunnels driven during the nineteenth century were of very restricted profile, being just large enough to accommodate the small locomotives and rolling stock of the time. This legacy from the days of the “Vogel Railways” has seriously handicapped New Zealand railway operations, in that until recent years it was not possible to construct locomotives and rolling stock higher than 11 ft 6 in. above rail, or wider than 8 ft 6 in. In 1955 a start was made with the lowering of the track in certain small-bore tunnels on the North Island Main Trunk line, thus permitting the operation of American-built diesel locomotives with a maximum height of 12 ft 2 in. and a width of 9 ft 2 in.
At 31 March 1965 there were no fewer than 189 tunnels on the railway system, with an aggregate length of about 54 miles. Six of these tunnels are more than a mile long, and two, Otira and Rimutaka, are 5 ¼ and 5 miles long respectively. The Otira Tunnel, which pierces the Southern Alps and serves as a gateway between Canterbury and Westland, was started in 1908 but was not officially opened for traffic until 1923. Modern machinery and techniques enabled the slightly longer Rimutaka Tunnel to be built in much quicker time, the main contract taking little more than four years to complete. The Rimutaka Tunnel and its associated works, consisting of 14 miles of new line and one short tunnel, was probably the greatest railway improvement project ever undertaken in New Zealand. When completed, in 1955, it eliminated the notorious Rimutaka Incline, with its 1 in 15 grade, and costly, time-consuming haulage by special “Fell” locomotives and brake vans.
An even more ambitious project, necessitating 15 ½ miles of new railway and a 5 ½-mile tunnel, is now being undertaken to link the eastern Waikato district with the Bay of Plenty. Known as the Kaimai deviation, the new line will replace 35 miles of old railway in need of extensive and costly upgrading. The reduced haulage distances offered by the new route will not only enable valuable savings to be made in railway operating costs, but will also be of benefit to industry in that freight charges on goods to and from the Bay of Plenty will be reduced.
The highest elevation reached by a railway in New Zealand is 2,671 ft near Pokaka, on the North Island Main Trunk line. At four other points on the railway system, including two in the South Island, altitudes of more than 2,000 ft are reached. Gradients of 1 in 50 to 1 in 80 are common on main lines, and in a few localities on old main and branch lines grades as steep as 1 in 35 to 1 in 40 will be found. More than one-third of the 423-mile length of the Wellington-Auckland main line is graded at 1 in 100 or steeper.
The steepest gradients on main lines are 1 in 33 from west to east through the electrified Otira Tunnel; 1 in 35 on the Taranaki line north of Wanganui; and 1 in 35 on the Rotorua line where it crosses the Mamaku Ranges. The longest continuous gradient is between Rolleston and Springfield, on the Midland line, where the average inclination of 1 in 147 is maintained for 30 miles.
Not only gradients are responsible for railway operating difficulties in New Zealand. Curvature also is severe, this being the result both of topography and of financial considerations. Curves of 7 ½ chains radius are frequent on some of the main lines, and on some older routes the gradients are not compensated for curvature. Really long sections of dead-straight track are rare, and even on the Canterbury Plains the longest is only 15 ½ miles.
Technically, the railways of New Zealand are far more advanced than most New Zealanders would appear to believe. In the field of track engineering New Zealand railway engineers are making excellent progress, and main lines are being relaid or constructed to very high standards permitting heavier traffic and higher speeds, yet costing less to maintain. The standard rail now being laid in main lines weighs 91 lb per yard, compared with the old standard of 70 lb introduced in 1901. Increasing use is being made of specialised machinery for the laying and maintenance of track, and rails are now welded together into long lengths by the electric flash-butt method. Traffic flow is also being steadily improved by means of modern signalling and communications equipment. Electric colour-light signals are replacing the old mechanically operated semaphores, and the classic signal cabin, with its huge manually worked levers, is being replaced by compact all-electric or electronic installations requiring only finger-tip control.
On some heavy-traffic routes the electric train-tablet system – used since 1901 to regulate the passage of trains over single-line sections between stations – has been replaced by a modern remote-control system known as C.T.C. (Centralised Traffic Control). C.T.C., which makes use of colour-light signals and electrically operated points, enables a train controller at a central control station to regulate the flow of traffic in both directions over sections of single line up to 100 miles in length. It permits a smoother operation of a larger number of trains than could be handled in a given period by the tablet system, and enables a reduction to be made in the number of employees required for signalling purposes at wayside stations. New Zealand was the first country outside the North American continent to adopt C.T.C., and since 1938 more than 400 route miles of line have been equipped. The longest individual sections are Frankton-Taumarunui (90 miles), on the North Island Main Trunk line, and St. Leonards – Oamaru (74 miles) on the South Island main line. Preparations are in hand for eventual installation of C.T.C. on the whole of the North Island Main Trunk line between Paekakariki and Frankton, and at the time of writing only 60 miles of single-track line on this route remain under tablet control.
|
Weights of Rail in Main Lines
(Year Ended 31 March 1963) |
||||||
| Pounds | North Island | South Island | Total | |||
| Per Yard | ml | ch | ml | ch | ml | ch |
| 100 | 7 | 24 | 9 | 68 | 17 | 12 |
| 90–91 | 545 | 33 | 260 | 79 | 806 | 32 |
| 85 | 248 | 26 | 98 | 17 | 346 | 43 |
| 70–75 | 779 | 59 | 692 | 62 | 1,472 | 41 |
| 60 | 0 | 53 | .. | 0 | 53 | |
| 52–56 | 191 | 79 | 590 | 53 | 782 | 52 |
| Total | 1,773 | 34 | 1,652 | 39 | 3,425 | 73 |
Steam as a form of motive power is far from dead on the New Zealand Railways, although no new steam locomotives have been built for the service since 1956. Today the powerful diesel-electric locomotive is gradually ousting steam. In some respects this is to be regretted, for the New Zealand Railways have a long and proud tradition of steam locomotive design and construction. In 1889 the railway workshops built their first locomotive, a 37-ton tank engine of class “W”, and it was a New Zealand designer who gave the world the first “Pacific” (4–6–2) and “Mountain” (4–8–2) type locomotives, in 1901 and 1908 respectively. The latest types of steam locomotive in New Zealand, the 4–8–2 “Ja”, weighing 110 tons, and the 4–8–4 “Ka”, weighing 145 tons, are magnificent and thoroughly modern machines which have done sterling work both in passenger and in freight service. Designed in New Zealand for local conditions, they nevertheless reveal traces of their British and American ancestry. A “Ka” is capable of hauling a 13-car, 400-ton express train at well over a mile a minute on level track, or a 1,000-ton freight train at 30 m.p.h. The speedy and graceful “Ja” has demonstrated its remarkable performance in express service on the level plains of Canterbury, and on occasions has attained speeds in excess of 70 miles an hour.
At the end of March 1965 New Zealand Railways had in operation 57 oil-fired and 260 coal-fired steam locomotives; 159 diesel-electric main line and 46 diesel-electric shunting locomotives; 148 diesel-mechanical shunting locomotives; and 28 electric locomotives. Diesels are responsible for working almost all freight traffic over the North Island Main Trunk line. Moreover, the use of diesel shunting locomotives in marshalling yards and at country stations has resulted in the withdrawal of large numbers of obsolete steam locomotives. In addition, freight services have been greatly improved in recent years. Goods trains are now carrying heavier payloads and are moving faster, with distinct savings in fuel and wages. On the Wellington-Auckland route alone, the use of diesel locomotives has enabled ordinary goods train schedules to be reduced from 38 hours to less than 24 hours. Four principal types of diesel-electric main-line locomotives are in use: the General Motors G-12 type of 1,425 b.h.p., otherwise known as class “Da”; the English Electric 1,500 b.h.p. 2–Co–Co–2 of class “Df”; the English Electric 750 b.h.p. A1A–A1A of class “Dg”; and the English Electric 660 b.h.p. Bo–Bo of class “De”. Two new types of diesel-electric locomotive recently introduced for service on secondary main lines are the General Motors G-8 A1A–A1A type of 950 h.p., classified “Db”, and the English Electric Co–Co type of 1,012 h.p., which are known as class “Di”.
Diesel power has also played an important part in the improvement of railway passenger services in New Zealand. Fifty diesel railcars are in use, providing fast and frequent services over practically all principal inter-city routes. The first diesel railcars in New Zealand were placed in service as early as 1936–37, and in 1940 a new type then on test attained 78 m.p.h., the highest speed ever officially recorded on New Zealand Railways.
Electrification has not made its mark in New Zealand to the extent that might have been expected in a country with considerable hydro-electric power-generating resources. Only five sections of line, with a total route length of 68 miles, have been electrified, and at first the principal reason was the undesirability of using steam locomotives through long tunnels. Some years ago comprehensive plans were drawn up for the electrification of the North Island Main Trunk line between Paekakariki and Auckland, but diesel traction, introduced as a stop-gap measure to avoid heavy capital expenditure, proved that it could cope with all the traffic offering. As a result the electrification proposals were shelved.
The electrified sections at present in use work at a line pressure of 1,500V d.c., current being collected by pantograph from an overhead contact wire. The earliest installation was completed in 1923 between Otira and Arthur's Pass, through the Otira Tunnel. In 1929, after more than 60 years of steam operation, the Christchurch-Lyttelton line was electrified to improve passenger travel through the Lyttelton Tunnel. Electrification of the Wellington suburban railway network began a few years before the 1939–45 war. The first section, completed in 1938, was the steeply graded branch line from Wellington to Johnsonville, this being followed two years later by the 25-mile Wellington-Paekakariki section of the Main Trunk line. In 1955, after several years of work involving the construction of new tracks, stations, and bridges, the Wellington – Upper Hutt section (20 route miles) was completed at a cost of nearly £5 million. This brought the aggregate length of electrified routes radiating from Wellington to more than 50 miles.
| Year | North Island | South Island | Both Islands |
| Ib | Ib | Ib | |
| 1926 | 17,200 | 14,576 | 15,978 |
| 1936 | 20,128 | 16,958 | 18,489 |
| 1946 | 22,471 | 18,812 | 20,960 |
| 1956 | 23,811 | 19,528 | 22,200 |
| 1963 | 23,337 | 19,645 | 21,906 |
To carry their heavy freight traffic, the railways of New Zealand maintain some 33,000 wagons with an aggregate capacity of about 400,000 tons. About half of these vehicles have been placed in service since 1945, and are therefore of modern design. The types of vehicles provided for freight transport give some indication of the classes of traffic carried by New Zealand Railways. Typical vehicles are open “highsiders” of 15 tons capacity, for coal, manure, and other bulk commodities; double-decked sheep wagons to carry 80 sheep; steel box wagons with unusually wide doors, designed to carry 14 tons of palletised freight; bogie-type box wagons for the conveyance of merchandise at express-train speeds; louvred box wagons for fish and fruit; and high-capacity, bogie-type insulated wagons for the transport of frozen meat from works to ports. Other specialised types include massive bogie wagons especially designed for the transport of pulp logs from the Kaingaroa Forest to the Kawerau pulp and paper mills; four-wheeled flat wagons for the conveyance of palletised timber; wagons with removable hoppers to facilitate the loading of colliers at West Coast ports; tank wagons for liquid hot bitumen and tallow; and pressurised tankers for bulk cement. Another development is the use of lightweight portable containers to facilitate door-to-door deliveries. These containers can be carried on railway wagons or motor trucks, and are designed to fit into the cargo hold of a Bristol Freighter aircraft, as used on the Railways Department's Rail-Air freight service over Cook Strait.
Although the New Zealand railway system is predominantly single track, with crossing loops at stations, double-line working has been made possible as a result of duplication in several areas where traffic density is exceptionally high. More than 157 route miles of double track were in use at the end of 1964 on the approaches to Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin. The section between Auckland and Frankton, which carries the highest density of traffic in New Zealand, is duplicated for almost its full length of 84 miles. The task of reconstructing the railways to meet modern needs is a never-ending one. The financial stringencies of the seventies and eighties, and later, resulted in economies of construction that today seriously hamper railway operations, and deviations are necessary to shorten distances, to reduce severe curvature, or to eliminate steep gradients. Old bridges – some dating from the earliest days of railways in this country – enforce restrictions on modern locomotives which are quite unacceptable, and in most instances such bridges are no longer economical to maintain in good condition. As rapidly as finances and engineering considerations permit, they are being replaced by new structures designed to have a very long life combined with low maintenance costs. New Zealand railway engineers are making increasing use of prestressed concrete as a construction material, and it would appear that the concrete railway bridge will in the future become as commonplace as was once the timber bridge in the nineteenth century.
Each of the four main centres – Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin – now possesses a large and well-planned passenger terminal. The newest, at Christchurch, was completed in 1960. At many of the provincial centres, and at some country towns, the traditional rambling wooden station building has been replaced by a neat and functional structure of contemporary design. It would be premature to state that the replacement of old and inadequate station buildings is planned on a large scale, but the trend is a continuing one, as is shown by the recent construction of attractive stations at Rotorua, Te Awamutu, New Plymouth, Stratford, Napier, Palmerston North, Feilding, Lyttelton, Springfield and Port Chalmers. Many new goods sheds are also being built, particularly in the Auckland district, where an expanding economy is taxing existing facilities. To reduce manual work, greater use is being made of mechanical appliances such as mobile cranes and forklifts. At Frankton a new trans-shipment shed with freight trolleys propelled by an underfloor endless chain was opened in 1960, and at Westfield, on the outskirts of the Auckland metropolitan area, an extensive new marshalling yard costing more than £700,000 was brought into use in 1962. Elsewhere, crossing loops and station yards are being lengthened or otherwise increased in capacity to accommodate the bigger freight trains that diesel locomotives have made possible.
Each working day more than 1,000 trains run over the tracks of the New Zealand railway system. These services range from long-distance express trains and railcars to suburban trains and local freight “shunts”. In the course of a full year they cover more than 15 million miles.
The fastest rail passenger services maintain time-table average speeds of 30–35 m.p.h. over the full length of their journeys, including all stops. Between stops, schedules call for average speeds up to 45 m.p.h. for steam-hauled passenger trains, and up to 54 m.p.h. for diesel railcars. On sections where conditions are favourable, maximum running speeds are 50–55 m.p.h. for passenger trains and 55–60 m.p.h. for railcars.
The most noteworthy passenger trains are the diesel-hauled “Night Limited” expresses which cover the 423 miles between Wellington and Auckland in 13 ½ hours, and the steam-hauled “South Island Limited” expresses between Christchurch and Invercargill, which are timed to run the 367 miles in 11¾ hours. Regular overnight express trains include sleeping cars, arranged on the British “corridor” pattern with transverse cabins each having two berths. Air conditioning is not installed on New Zealand trains, although the first-class reclining seat coaches employed on the principal Main Trunk express services have a pressure ventilation system. Dining or restaurant cars have not been provided since 1917, when they were withdrawn as a wartime economy measure. Instead, refreshment rooms are maintained by the railway administration at principal stations where trains are required, in any event, to stop for several minutes.
Diesel railcars have replaced conventional express trains – except at holiday times – on all except the two Main Trunk routes, and even then, in the South Island, they supplement the daily expresses. In some instances, notably on the Christchurch-Greymouth, Wellington – New Plymouth, and Wellington-Napier routes, railcars provide two return services daily. The latest are of the articulated type seating 88 passengers. Powered by two 210 b.h.p. underfloor diesel engines, they are capable of 65 m.p.h. and normally maintain schedules such as: Christchurch-Dunedin (229 miles) in 6 h 5 min; Wellington-Napier (197 miles) 5 h 45 min; and Auckland-Rotorua (172 miles), 5 h 10 min.
Although suburban passenger services are operated in the Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin metropolitan areas, by far the most intensive commuter services are those provided in the Wellington area, where a conveniently situated city terminal and fast multiple-unit trains on three electrified routes serving densely populated residential areas carry 16 million passengers annually. Unlike the suburban rail services at the other cities, those at Wellington do not have to compete with bus services, although considerable traffic is drawn away from rail by private and business automobiles, many of which travel into the city in the morning and home again in the evening carrying “expenses-shared” passengers. Wellington Railway-Station is the busiest passenger terminal in the country. Each day nearly 400 passenger services enter or leave the nine platforms, and on the busiest days some 50,000 passengers pass through the concourse. During the morning and evening peak periods the frequency of arrivals and departures reaches one train per minute.
The average rate of terminal-to-terminal movement of freight trains is rising steadily, thanks to the increasing use of diesel traction, and the statistical figure of 14 m.p.h. compares favourably with the corresponding averages of 10 m.p.h. for Great Britain and 20 m.p.h. for the U.S. The fastest freight trains are those which run overnight in each direction between Wellington and Auckland, and between Christchurch and Dunedin. Consisting solely of bogie vehicles and restricted in maximum loading, these trains run at speeds up to 50 m.p.h. and average some 27 m.p.h. throughout. Ordinary goods trains, which sometimes build up to a trailing load of 2,000 tons on favourable sections and run at maximum speeds of 30–35 m.p.h., maintain scheduled average speeds of 15–20 m.p.h. This includes all stops for shunting and all time spent waiting to cross other trains on the single-track main lines. A typical example of this class of train is the overnight freight service which covers the 197 miles between Wellington and Napier in 10 ½ hours.
| Year | Passenger | Mixed | Freight | Total |
| (millions) | (millions) | (millions) | (millions) | |
| 1928 | 547 | 636 | 1,039 | 2,222 |
| 1933 | 521 | 537 | 847 | 1,905 |
| 1938 | 748 | 501 | 1,508 | 2,757 |
| 1943 | 1,074 | 524 | 2,042 | 3,640 |
| 1948 | 715 | 443 | 2,386 | 3,544 |
| 1953 | 654 | 244 | 2,833 | 3,732 |
| 1958 | 748 | 38 | 3,256 | 4,042 |
| 1963 | 777 | 19 | 3,366 | 4,162 |
| 1965 | 772 | 11 | 3,878 | 4,661 |
The non-railway activities of New Zealand Railways embrace transport by sea, by road, and by air. As a shipowner, the Railways Department has been in business since 1902 when it acquired the fleet operated by the Lake Wakatipu Shipping Co. In 1962 it entered the coastal trade with a new “roll-on”, “roll-off” vehicular ferry, the Aramoana, plying between Wellington and Picton. This 4,160-ton diesel-electric vessel serves as a floating bridge between the North and South Islands and has relieved the Department of much of the inconvenience of operating what virtually amounted to two separate railway systems, one for each island. Carrying both railway wagons and motor vehicles, the Aramoana is manned and operated for the Department by the Union Steam Ship Co. of New Zealand Ltd. So successful has this venture proved that a second vessel, named Aranui, was placed in service early in 1966.
An earlier link between these two sections of railway was the Rail-Air freight service, which the Department inaugurated in 1947 as a means of accelerating the inter-Island transfer of rail freight. In 1951 the Department engaged an aerial contractor to provide and fly the aircraft; at the same time a mechanical system of loading and unloading was devised. This venture has been an outstanding commercial success and at the end of 1961 six Bristol Freighter aircraft were carrying inter-Island rail freight over Cook Strait at the rate of more than 50,000 tons annually. One of the few air-freight services to be operated by a railway administration in any part of the world, Rail-Air is today regarded as a very efficient undertaking. Although the actual aircraft operation is carried out under contract by a private company, Straits Air Freight Express Ltd., the Department handles all freight and arranges for the loading of the aircraft.
The Railways Department is the largest operator of road vehicles in the country, and the Road Services Branch has been in existence since 1926, when several competitive bus services were purchased. The genesis of railway-owned road services, however, was 1907, when the Department began a bus service between Culverden Railway Station and Hanmer Springs, in Canterbury. Today the Road Services Branch runs over more than 5,000 miles of routes in both islands, providing long-distance motor coach, suburban omnibus, rural passenger, and freight services. The fleet consists of more than a thousand vehicles.
Over the years rail transport has contributed greatly to New Zealand's transition from colonial outpost to progressive nation, and there is no reason to doubt that in the future New Zealand Railways will continue to play a prominent part in the economic development of the country.
by Albert Noel Palmer, Assistant Publicity Manager, New Zealand Government Railways, Wellington.