Category: Kiwirail
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Kiwirail’s Bunnythorpe Development
Kiwirail Networks has proposed a new railfreight terminal be developed at Bunnythorpe, which is the first station to the north of Palmerston North. The idea is that Palmerston North’s existing freight yards are too constrained by adjacent industrial and residential development to allow for future needs, and Bunnythorpe offers a new opportunity for Kiwirail to…
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Kiwirail Announces Opening of Tunnel 21 Deviation
Today, 25 May 2021, Kiwirail has announced the opening of the deviation of the Main North Line at Tunnel 21 (Tar Barrel Tunnel) between Mirza and Wharanui. The part of the Main North Line between these locations was the historical Picton Section built in stages south from Picton between 1875 and 1915, and the railhead…
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Questions Over Government Rail Freight Strategy [2]
Last post we took a quick introductory look at issues pertaining especially to the Main North Line which was completely closed to all rail freight for around two years as a result of major earthquake damage, and consequently lost all freight haulage to road. Kiwirail was, and is, majorly hampered in the situation by not…
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Questions Over Government Rail Freight Strategy [1]
Unless you live in a cave, you’ll be aware of the many historical challenges Kiwirail and its predecessors have faced in operating a 4000 km network around a country as long and thin as NZ. As a country we have a low population density with our four largest cities each separated by hundreds of kilometres…
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Wairoa to Gisborne Rail Line: Can the line be re-opened economically?
The ongoing saga of the Gisborne Line has occupied many column centimetres in Gisborne and elsewhere over a lengthy period. The problem is that the Gisborne Line, particularly in the section over the Whareratas near Gisborne, has been very difficult and extremely expensive to maintain. The reopening of the line has been the subject of…