56-675: The Okaihau Branch , sometimes known as the Kaikohe Branch and rarely the Rangiahua Branch , was a branch line railway that joined the North Auckland Line of the national rail network of New Zealand at Otiria . It was the most northerly line in New Zealand and was intended to run all the way to Kaitaia . It opened to Ōkaihau in 1923 and closed in 1987. Proposals for a railway line to Kaitaia and
112-482: A main line . A very short branch line may be called a spur line . Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located on a main line. Branch lines may also connect two or more main lines. An industrial spur is a type of secondary track used by railroads to allow customers at a location to load and unload railcars without interfering with other railroad operations. Industrial spurs can vary greatly in length and railcar capacity depending on
168-510: A common sight along railroads in industrial and rural cities alike. As automobile and roadway technology improved throughout the early and mid-20th century, most low volume industry spurs were abandoned in favor of the greater flexibility and economic savings of trucking. Today, railroads remain the most economical way to ship large quantities of material, a fact that is reflected in industrial spurs. Most modern day spurs serve very large industries that require hundreds, if not thousands, of carloads
224-802: A debt of $ 1.2 billion. The Fourth Labour Government passed the New Zealand Railways Corporation Restructuring Act 1990 on 28 August of that year. New Zealand Rail Limited (NZRL) was established as a Crown Transferee Company under the provisions of the Act, and took over NZRC's rail transport and shipping activities, including the railway tracks, on 28 October 1990. NZRL leased the railway corridor from NZRC for $ 1 per year. Branding initially remained unchanged, except that suburban passenger trains were rebranded Cityrail. Non-core assets remained with NZRC prior to their disposal. Many of these assets were written down by
280-515: A direct subsidiary of NZRC, and ONTRACK was merged into KiwiRail. The ONTRACK brand continuing to be used by KiwiRail's infrastructure arm. In 2011 the ONTRACK brand was dropped and renamed KiwiRail Infrastructure, a division of KiwiRail (although ONTRACK Infrastructure Limited continued to be directly owned by NZRC). On 31 October 2011, KiwiRail proposed splitting its land and rail corridor assets from its rail operation assets. On 27 June 2012 it
336-604: A guards van. When railcars were introduced on services north of Auckland in November 1956, they ran all the way to Ōkaihau. Previously, a carriage train known as the Northland Express (or the Opua Express) had run from Auckland to Opua with connections to Okaihau via the mixed trains, but with the change of the northern terminus to Ōkaihau, the branch increased in importance. This proved to be short-lived as
392-542: A long term sustainable access regime have generally been positive", but "Toll NZ is still concerned that the Crown appears to be unwilling to recognise the inequality of the funding support between road and rail and the need to adopt a more commercial approach to track access management". The Labour Government announced in May 2008 that the rail and sea operations of Toll NZ Limited, less its trucking and distribution operations,
448-464: A mainline, they tend to have lower maintenance and signaling (train control) standards. Before the rise of the long-distance trucking in the early 1930s, railroads were the primary means of transportation around the world. Industries of the era were commonly built along railroad lines specifically to allow for easy access to shipping. Short (under a mile, oftentimes only several hundred yards) industrial spurs with very small (under ten car) capacities were
504-628: A number of unprofitable branch lines, including: Older and smaller classes of locomotives were withdrawn and scrapped, including the DE class , DI class , DJ class , DB class , and the DA class . Workshops at Addington (Christchurch), East Town (Wanganui) and Otahuhu (Auckland) were closed. Guards vans (aka Brake vans) were withdrawn from the rear of all freight trains on 30 May 1987, and were replaced with Flashing rear-end devices (known as FREDs). By 1989 large operating losses and interest had generated
560-490: A railway service failed to eventuate. Scheduled trains were cancelled on 12 August 1983, and for a little over four years the line was shunted when required. The branch closed on 1 November 1987. After the line's closure, the New Zealand Railways Corporation retained ownership over the trackbed in the hopes that forestry proposals would come to fruition, and some rails were still in place during
616-823: A section of the West Rail line . Discontinued services include the Sha Tau Kok Railway and the Wo Hop Shek Branch . A spur line to Siu Sai Wan has been proposed. Delhi On the Delhi Metro , the Blue Line has a Branch Line with 8 Stations, linking Yamuna Bank to Ghaziabad via Anand Vihar ISBT and terminating at Vaishali. The first section of the Branch opened on 8 January 2010 with Anand Vihar as its terminal with six stations. It
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#1732780199437672-531: A subsidy for grain transport, and instead allowed railways to absorb branch line subsidies freely without making effort to improve the profitability of the lines. The term "grain-dependent branch lines" began being used as early as 1978 to refer to the special case of these branch lines in agricultural areas whose viability depended on the economics of grain transport. The Western Grain Transportation Act of 1983 addressed this case specifically, but
728-466: A year. There is an international branch line between Italy and Vatican: the 300-metre Vatican Railway , connecting from the Pisa-Rome railway mainline at Roma San Pietro railway station , to Vatican City station . Many British railway branch lines were closed as a result of the " Beeching cuts " in the 1960s, although some have been re-opened as heritage railways . The smallest branch line that
784-567: Is still in operation in the UK is the Stourbridge Town Branch Line from Stourbridge Junction going to Stourbridge Town . Operating on a single track, the journey is 0.8 miles (1.3 kilometres) long and the train takes around two and a half minutes to complete its journey. In North America, little-used branch lines are often sold by large railroads to become new common carrier short-line railroads of their own. Throughout
840-774: Is where the rails used to be, with a loading bank to the west and a platform to the east. The corridor is still owned by the Railways Corporation. A proposal was made by the Kaikohe Rau Marama Community Trust to convert the trackbed between Ōkaihau and Kaikohe into a walking and cycling track, much like the Otago Central Rail Trail and the Little River Rail Trail in the South Island . This
896-532: The Bay of Plenty Region , lines were built inland to provide rail access to large logging operations. Today, many of the branch lines have been closed, including almost all of the general-purpose country lines. Those that remain serve ports or industries far from main lines such as coal mines, logging operations, large dairying factories, and steelworks . In Auckland and Wellington , two branch lines in each city exist solely for commuter passenger trains. For more, see
952-753: The Gladstone Branch in New Jersey; as well as the New Canaan Branch , Danbury Branch , and Waterbury Branch in Connecticut . The Long Island Rail Road also refers to its services as "branches". In Chile, there are a lot of branch lines on its main line, of only a few remain operational. Most only operating in turistic services (like the Antilhue-Valdivia branch line), others have been taken over by other railways (like
1008-1048: The Grand Trunk , Canadian National , or Canadian Pacific ) which would acquire formerly independent short line railways for use as branch lines, with the short line often continuing to exist as a subsidiary. For example, when the Canadian Pacific acquired the Algoma Eastern Railway (a short line) in 1930, it soon after abandoned much of the Algoma Eastern mainline, but retained sections close to Algoma Eastern–Canadian Pacific junctions as short branch lines or spurs. The National Transportation Act of 1967 provided government subsidies for branch lines. Western railway development in Canada worked in concert with land settlement and cultivation, as pioneers were settled near railway lines, often on land
1064-728: The North South Line between Jurong East and Choa Chu Kang stations was operated as a separate line, known as the Branch line . It was merged into the North–South Line with the opening of the Woodlands Extension in 1996. The future Jurong Region Line and Cross Island Line will also have branch lines. New Zealand once had a very extensive network of branch lines, especially in the South Island regions of Canterbury , Otago , and Southland . Many were built in
1120-704: The South Tseung Kwan O Spur Line to LOHAS Park station , opened in 2009. Earlier, a spur line was built in 1985 on the East Rail line to serve Racecourse station , bypassing Fo Tan station . Also, the Tsim Sha Tsui Extension [ yue ] was built in 2004 on the East Rail line to serve East Tsim Sha Tsui station . However, after the Kowloon Southern Link was completed in 2009, this spur line turns into
1176-399: The list of New Zealand railway lines . New Zealand Railways Corporation New Zealand Railways Corporation ( NZRC ) is the state-owned enterprise that owns the land beneath KiwiRail 's railway network on behalf of the Crown. The corporation has existed under a number of guises since 1982, when the old New Zealand Railways Department was corporatised followed by deregulation of
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#17327801994371232-732: The 18,000 ha of railway land, "from which no financial return will be expected." The arrangement is similar to that which existed between New Zealand Rail Limited and the New Zealand Railways Corporation in the 1990s, although KiwiRail provides all "management services" under an agreement to the corporation. Today, the corporation has assets comprising the railway corridor land, valued at $ 3.8 billion. Wellington railway station and Social Hall buildings were transferred to KiwiRail in January 2017. From its inception in 1982 coinciding with land transport deregulation,
1288-562: The 1980s NZRC faced many business challenges, such as the growth of competition from road freight operators following the deregulation of the land transport industry from 1983 by the repeal of the Transport Licensing Act 1931 . The corporation's revenues were halved by the new competition. In April 1983 the Corporation engaged international consultants Booz Allen Hamilton to review the effectiveness and efficiency of
1344-480: The 1990s. In most places track and bridges have been removed, though evidence of the bridge piles and ballast remain. A loading bank and rails under a loading chute exist in Kaikohe, and in Ōkaihau, the flat area of the yard, the tunnel leading to Rangiahua and the platform are very apparent. For much of the line's length, its formation is quite obvious and includes embankments and cuttings. At Rangiahua State Highway 1
1400-517: The Far North existed as early as the 1870s, but it was not until 1909 that preliminary surveys were conducted. After the North Auckland Line was linked to and extended over the Opua Branch in 1911, construction progressed in earnest from Otiria towards Kaikohe : initial work had been undertaken in 1910. On 1 May 1914, this section opened. A small amount of further construction took place over
1456-727: The Government, for $ 830 million. Speedlink Parcels was sold to New Zealand Post , and InterCity bus services were sold in 1991 to InterCity Group , a group of four of the country's largest private coach companies – Ritchies Coachlines , Tranzit , PTL Route Services and Nelson SBL . Railway stations in Auckland , Rotorua , Christchurch , Dunedin , Napier and Oamaru were sold, along with substantial tracts of land previously used for rail operations. Cityline bus services were sold to various purchasers. Railway Houses for staff accommodation were sold, starting from 1989. Ownership of
1512-405: The New Zealand Railways Corporation owned the entire New Zealand railway network, acquired from Toll for $ 1. The National Rail Access Agreement provided: In the first year of the agreement (2004–05), Toll Rail paid $ 38M in track access charges. For the subsequent periods the track access charges were to be renegotiated, along with the commitment by the Government and Toll to further investment in
1568-695: The San Rosendo-Talcahuano branch line, which has been taken over by Biotrén and the Laja-Talcahuano train service) however, there is one branch line that still remains as fully operative. The Talca-Constitución branch line, which uses trains with bus motors. Two extensions to the MTR rapid transit network were built as branches of existing lines: the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line to Lok Ma Chau station , which opened in 2007; and
1624-623: The U.S. state of New Jersey . The line is a short branch of the Northeast Corridor Line , running from Princeton Junction northwest to Princeton with no intermediate stops. Also known as the "Dinky Line", at 2.9 mi (4.7 km) it is the shortest scheduled commuter rail line in the United States. The run takes 4 minutes, 47 seconds. Other than the Princeton Line, other surviving branch lines include
1680-469: The United States and Canada, branch lines link smaller towns too distant from the main line to be served efficiently, or to serve a certain industrial site such as a power station either because of a location away from the main line or to reduce congestion. They were typically built to lower standards, using lighter rail and shallow roadbeds when compared to main lines. Much of Canada's branch line history relates to large rail transport conglomerates (such as
1736-541: The company was renamed Tranz Rail in 1995, until acquired by Toll Holdings in 2004. A separate deal transferred ownership of the Auckland metropolitan rail network from Tranz Rail to the Government in 2001. As part of Toll's acquisition of Tranz Rail, the Government re-acquired the rail track infrastructure from Toll and signed the National Rail Access Agreement. For the first time since 1990,
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1792-525: The corporation's operations. In May 1984 they consultants reported back to the Muldoon National government . The report identified three major events that had critically influenced the corporation: The report recommended, amongst other things: This prompted the then opposition New Zealand Labour Party to launch a campaign called "Save Rail". Despite this, rationalisation of the NZRC began with
1848-406: The country, followed years of under-investment in the rail infrastructure. ONTRACK and Toll NZ were in dispute about track access fees from mid-2006 and an independent arbitrator, Bill Wilson QC , was called in to resolve the issues. Separate talks continued between Toll and the Government on long-term access arrangements. On 31 January 2007 Toll stated that "...the discussions with the Crown on
1904-599: The election of the Fourth Labour government in July 1984. In 1985 NZRC began a major corporate restructuring program, transforming the old functionally based branch structure into three core business groups: In 1986, the Corporation became a state-owned enterprise under the State-Owned Enterprises Act 1986 . Staff cuts were drastic and infrastructure was reduced or closed. The Corporation closed
1960-569: The first president of the Canadian National Railway , said that although most branch lines cannot pay for themselves, they are even essential to make main lines pay. In the United States, abandonment of unproductive branch lines was a byproduct of deregulation of the rail industry through the Staggers Act . The Princeton Branch is a commuter rail line and service owned and operated by New Jersey Transit (NJT) in
2016-413: The land transport sector. In 1986, the Corporation became a State-owned enterprise , required to make a profit. Huge job losses and cutbacks ensued, and the rail network, rail operations and ferry service of the corporation were transferred to New Zealand Rail Limited in 1990. The Corporation retained ownership of the land beneath the railway network, and charged a nominal rental to New Zealand Rail, which
2072-546: The late 19th century to open up inland regions for farming and other economic activities. The branches in the South Island regions were often general-purpose lines that carried predominantly agricultural traffic, but lines elsewhere were often built to serve a specific resource: on the West Coast , an extensive network of branch lines was built in rugged terrain to serve coal mines, while in the central North Island and
2128-419: The line wound downhill to the settlement and a station yard complete with platform was built, though the station building itself was not erected. Following a change in government in 1935 , a 1936 review of the work beyond Ōkaihau was undertaken, and the decision was made not to extend the line to Kaitaia. The steep route to Rangiahua was not seen as being particularly useful and had been plagued by slips. The line
2184-568: The next two years, but World War I meant that no work took place between 1916 and 1919. The resumption of work led to the completion of the line to Ōkaihau on 29 October 1923. Debate raged over what route to follow to Kaitaia. The proposal was to run from Ōkaihau to Rangiahua , near the Hokianga Harbour , and then either through the Maungataniwha Range , about 30 kilometres (19 mi) long with two tunnels; or skirting
2240-536: The operations of the department from 1 April 1982. Since then, NZRC's role has changed with various governments' policies. Like the Railways Department that preceded it, the corporation had a responsible Minister, the Minister of Railways . Along with rail operations, the Corporation inherited New Zealand Railways Road Services bus, truck and parcels services and SeaRail interisland ferries. During
2296-494: The rail network. From 1 July 2004 NZRC assumed the Crown's responsibilities under the National Rail Access Agreement and adopted the trading name ONTRACK. ONTRACK began Project DART , a major $ 600 million upgrade of Auckland's suburban railway network, and the Wellington Regional Rail Program (WRRP) to upgrade parts of Wellington's suburban network. These upgrades, along with other projects around
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2352-421: The railcar service was withdrawn in July 1967 due to mechanical problems plaguing the 88-seater railcars . Passengers had to use the mixed trains, with significantly older rolling stock on a slower schedule, and demand slipped. The branch closed to passengers on 21 June 1976. In 1977, a relaxation of road transport laws led to a decline in freight traffic on the line and forestry proposals that would have required
2408-401: The railway corridor underneath the tracks remained with NZRC, which managed the lease of the land to New Zealand Rail Limited. NZRC was also tasked with disposing of the remaining surplus railway land, some buildings and the remaining railway houses. The remainder was then transferred to Land Information New Zealand on 1 January 1994. Following privatisation of New Zealand Rail Limited in 1993,
2464-572: The railways had owned. However, by the mid-20th century, railways began neglecting lines in western agricultural regions. This was historically driven by factors such as the Crow Rate , which regulated the price railways could charge for shipping grain. Railways had little incentive to invest in rural Prairie branch lines, but were legally unable to abandon them under the National Transportation Act , which also did not provide
2520-561: The range, roughly ten kilometres (6.2 mi) longer with no tunnels. A 1921 commission did not support work beyond Ōkaihau, but a compromise in 1923 established Rangiahua as the northern terminus and the Public Works Department continued to build northwards, albeit slowly. Due to the Great Depression construction of the line beyond Ōkaihau was abandoned in 1931. The Rangiahua section was essentially complete:
2576-507: The requirements of the customer the spur is serving. In heavily industrialized areas, it is not uncommon for one industrial spur to have multiple sidings to several different customers. Typically, spurs are serviced by local trains responsible for collecting small numbers of railcars and delivering them to a larger yard, where these railcars are sorted and dispatched in larger trains with other cars destined to similar locations. Because industrial spurs generally have less capacity and traffic than
2632-578: The service KiwiRail . ONTRACK's railway infrastructure and employees were then transferred to KiwiRail in 2008, which itself was initially a subsidiary of the corporation. On 31 December 2012, the Corporation once again became the landowner. The NZRC was created as a statutory corporation by the New Zealand Railways Corporation Act 1981 from the New Zealand Railways Department . It took over
2688-450: The service centre of the Far North, it failed to generate much rail traffic in the early years of the line. During the first ten months of existence, just 1,500 tons of inbound freight was carried, with roughly half that carried outbound; the decline continued to the point that in 1918 Kaikohe lost its stationmaster. Minimal services were offered, and although losses increased up to 1930, fortunes had somewhat improved by 1940, and by 1950 there
2744-793: Was accordingly terminated in Okaihau, which was on the main State Highway north (SH1). During 1938 and World War II the abandoned trackage was salvaged, sometimes by bullock teams , for use elsewhere, especially the Dargaville Branch . The following stations were on the Okaihau Branch, with the distance from Otiria in brackets. The extension to Rangiahua is not included, as it never saw regular service. Otiria to Kaikohe (opened 1 May 1914) Kaikohe to Okaihau (opened 29 October 1923) Although Kaikohe has become established as
2800-425: Was announced by the company that the value of the land and rail operations will be written down from NZ$ 7.8 billion to $ 1.1 to $ 1.3 billion, and KiwiRail will continue as the rail and ferry operator, while the New Zealand Railways Corporation will manage KiwiRail's land. Minister of Finance Bill English and Minister of State Owned Enterprises Tony Ryall said the New Zealand Railways Corporation will continue to hold
2856-504: Was further extended to Vaishali in 2011. The line is planned to be extended from Vaishali to Mohan Nagar via Sahibabad Station to link with the main line. The East West Line of the MRT system in Singapore has a two-station branch to Changi Airport . The first station, Expo , opened in 2001. It was extended to Changi Airport station the next year. From 1990 to 1996, the section of
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#17327801994372912-430: Was privatised in 1993, and renamed Tranz Rail in 1995. In 2004, following a deal with Tranz Rail's new owners Toll NZ , the Corporation took over responsibility for maintaining and upgrading the rail network once more, trading under the name ONTRACK. Negotiations with Toll over track access charges concluded after four years with no agreement reached, so the government purchased the entire rail and ferry operations, naming
2968-502: Was repealed in 1994 in the wake of the North American Free Trade Agreement and budget-balancing initiatives in favour of a one-time payout by the federal government directly to farmers, to arrange transport of grain themselves. From the mid-1970s to the late 2010s, more than 9,300 kilometres (5,800 mi) of Prairie branch lines were abandoned or had a discontinuance of service. David Blyth Hanna ,
3024-408: Was sufficient traffic to justify six trains each way a week. Two carried solely freight, while four were mixed trains, also carrying passengers. Full complements of staff were employed at Kaikohe and Ōkaihau, where a locomotive depot was located. Folk singer Peter Cape wrote and sang his song The Okaihau Express in the 1950s about the Ōkaihau train, which consisted of a steam engine, a carriage and
3080-425: Was to be purchased for $ NZ665 million. The purchase was completed on 1 July 2008 and the company renamed KiwiRail . It planned to spend an estimated NZ$ 1 billion over five years to develop a modern effective rail system. Most of this expense is in purchasing new locomotives to replace aging rolling stock. Initially, KiwiRail and ONTRACK were both separate companies owned by NZRC. On 1 October 2008 KiwiRail became
3136-556: Was to be the first step in a plan to establish a rail trail through to the Bay of Islands Vintage Railway in Kawakawa . 14 km (8.7 mi) of the line was opened in 2013 as the first part of the 87 km (54 mi) Twin Coast Cycle Trail from Opua to Horeke , which opened fully in 2017. Branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually
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