55-404: The Seddonville Branch , later truncated as the Ngākawau Branch , is a branch line railway in the West Coast region of New Zealand 's South Island . Construction began in 1874 and it reached its terminus at the Mokihinui Mine just beyond Seddonville in 1895. In 1981 it was closed past Ngākawau and effectively became an extension of the Stillwater–Westport Line, since formalised as
110-510: 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
165-469: A decline in coastal shipping to Westport meant that the remainder carried reduced tonnages. Closure beyond Ngākawau was proposed in 1976, and although it operated a few more years, maintenance costs were increasingly higher than revenue and the branch beyond Ngākawau closed on 3 May 1981. In the 1980s, traffic rose significantly despite closure beyond Ngākawau and trains ran across the South Island via
220-464: 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
275-522: A more important through route, usually 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
330-823: 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
385-531: 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
440-466: 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
495-539: Is called the Stillwater-Ngākawau Line . This designation include what is now a short branch into Westport proper. The former line from Ngākawau to Seddonville is still officially gazetted with the name Seddonville Branch Railway, despite the line having been removed shortly after the line was closed in the 1980s. Some remnants of the branch beyond Ngākawau remain. Much of the formation remains visible, including embankments , cuttings and culverts . Part of
550-668: Is from the Stockton Mine at Ngakawau, north of Westport. Trains to and from Ngakawau use the Midland line as far as the junction with the Stillwater - Westport Line . The line was unique in New Zealand for its captive use of many different types of locomotives. These locomotives include the K class locomotives between Arthur's Pass and Springfield , once the second most powerful steam locomotives in New Zealand (after
605-567: 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
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#1732801803651660-532: 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
715-720: The DC class in the 1980s, became the predominant motive power. With the de- electrification of the Otira Tunnel on the Midland Line in the latter half of the 1990s, motive power changed to powerful DX class locomotives modified to operate through the tunnel. On 5 November 2009 both the Ngākawau Branch and the Stillwater-Westport Line were officially reclassified as being a single railway. The new railway
770-753: 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
825-1048: 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
880-509: The Midland Line to the deepwater harbour at Lyttelton rather than to Westport. In 1981, only 117,000 tonnes of coal were carried to Lyttelton; by 1989, this had risen to 600,000 tonnes. Due to the boom in traffic, bogie coal wagons were built to replace ageing four-wheeled stock of much lower capacity. In mid-June 2007, traffic was sufficient to justify five trains daily to Lyttelton. This later increased to seven, but by 2015, following
935-835: The New Zealand Railways Department acquired a 6.2 kilometre (3.8 mile) private line from Mokihinui through Seddonville to the Mokihinui Mine, run by the Mokihinui Coal Company. Some of the funds for the construction of the Ngākawau-Mokihinui section and the purchase of the Mokihinui line were provided by the Westport Harbour Board. The Westport to Seddonville line has had several names. It was first known as
990-788: 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
1045-704: 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
1100-465: The Stillwater–Ngākawau Line . The branch was built for transporting coal from mines to the harbour at Westport . Unlike most other railways of the era, there was no expectation that it would open up country for settlement and farming, as the terrain was mountainous and not suited to settlements of significant size. Coalfield surveys had identified significant deposits of bituminous coal on
1155-468: The list of New Zealand railway lines . Midland Line, New Zealand The Midland line is a 212 km section of railway between Rolleston and Greymouth in the South Island of New Zealand . The line features five major bridges, five viaducts and 17 tunnels, the longest of which is the Otira tunnel . It is the route of the popular TranzAlpine passenger train. Railway development in
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#17328018036511210-720: The Mount Rochfort Railway, then as the Westport Section of New Zealand Railways. After the Westport Section was linked to the main part of the South Island railway network in 1943 by the construction of a line through the Buller Gorge, it became known as the Seddonville Branch. The following stations are or were on the Seddonville Branch (the distance from Westport is given in kilometres and miles): There were never passenger trains due to
1265-642: The Mount Rochfort and Stockton plateaus high above the coastal plain and outcrops of sub-bituminous coal had been located at low level close to the rivers at Waimangaroa and Ngākawau . However, none of this coal could be accessed because of a lack of transport along the plain to the Buller River at Westport, which was large enough for ships to access. Surveying of the line began on 3 March 1874 and construction began on 13 July 1874. The first section opened to Fairdown on 31 December 1875. Waimangaroa
1320-695: 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
1375-479: The South Island in the 1870s was concentrated on a main line linking the established centres of Christchurch, Timaru, Dunedin and Invercargill and light, easily constructed branch lines serving the arable plains; (see Vogel Era ). These later included a branch to Springfield which was reached by January 1880. In 1882 the East and West Coast Railway League was formed and in 1884 a Royal Commission, although fully aware of
1430-623: 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
1485-469: 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
1540-637: The bank of the Mōkihinui River to ensure the stability of the formation between Seddonville and Mokihinui Mine. In 1989 the Baldwin Steam Trust recovered the locomotives with the aim of restoring them to full operational condition. These locomotives are now located at Maymorn , Upper Hutt and are owned by the Rimutaka Incline Railway . Branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off
1595-450: The branch at Granity. In September 1875, three C class 0-4-2 T tank locomotives were shipped to Westport in readiness for the opening to Fairdown. It soon became apparent that greater motive power was required, and in 1898 four W class tanks were delivered. Three decades later they were followed by W class tank locomotives, the first of which arrived in 1929, which were the mainstay until dieselisation . The W class were limited on
1650-604: The branch in service. An early 1967 timetable had one train to Seddonville and the Mokihinui Mine and two to Ngākawau on weekdays, with shuttles from the Conns Creek Branch that diverged at Waimangaroa. Traffic from the Conns Creek Branch was declining and it closed later that year. The 3 kilometre (1.9 mile) section beyond Seddonville to Mokihinui Mine closed on 10 February 1974 after the mine closed. Low demand for Buller region coal, decreased output and
1705-420: The branch's first half-century, freight was not confined to coal. However, as road transport became more prevalent, local businesses abandoned rail cartage and coal was virtually the only freight carried by the late 1930s. Coal tonnages were declining by this stage: in 1940, the branch was carrying just over half its pre- World War I peak of 800,000 tons. Nonetheless, coal traffic was more than sufficient to keep
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1760-549: The construction difficulties of the Waimakariri Valley-Arthurs Pass route, as compared with the somewhat easier but longer Hurunui Valley-Harpers Pass route, chose the more direct route. The construction of the line was rejected in 1883 by a Royal Commission, who argued that despite the significant timber and coal resources of the West Coast of the South Island, the line would not be economic, in
1815-670: The face of limited resources during the Premiership of Sir Julius Vogel , although Parliament did pass the East and West Coast and Nelson Railway Act to enable private interests to construct a line. The major obstacle to engineers and politicians was the Southern Alps . In 1886 the New Zealand Midland Railway Company was formed by Nelson and Canterbury business interests to construct the line, and
1870-569: 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
1925-530: The formation near Seddonville has been converted into the Chasm Creek Walkway, uses two bridges and one tunnel. The platform edge of Seddonville station remains, but the line to the Mokihinui Mine is now largely inaccessible as it is not near any roads. At the end of their working lives, some locomotives and rolling stock were used to protect the branch from river erosion. Between 1958 and 1960, W class tank locomotives 292 and 299 were dumped on
1980-427: 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
2035-539: The line complete as far as Otira on the western side and Broken River on the eastern (Canterbury) side. The major obstacle to the route lay immediately ahead: the forcing of the Waimakariri and Broken River gorges, some 8.5 miles (13 km) of the route surveyed by C. Napier Bell in 1883 and described to the Royal Commission by District Engineer W.N. Blair as "very rough, the mountain slope rises from
2090-485: The line depends largely on coal traffic, with other general freight being restricted to products from the Westland Milk Products factory at Hokitika . In 2003, Tranz Rail carried a total of 2.1 million tonnes of coal over the line. Usually, coal services are headed by two class DX locomotives, and consist of 30 coal hopper wagons, with a total capacity of 1,800 tonnes . On 27 November 2007, it
2145-539: The line from Westport to Nelson , and capital was raised in London by the firm to meet this end. The Company entered into a contract with the Government the same year. For various reasons, the company managed to complete only 120 km of the line, and the Government exercised its right to take possession of the line in 1895, although protracted legal battles meant that full control was not achieved until 1900, with
2200-523: The line was mothballed until 1883. It then reopened to allow stone for harbour works at Westport to be transported. The impact of the Long Depression limited government funds available for railway construction, and no extension of the line occurred for over a decade. By the end of the 1880s, the economic position was improving and work commenced on extending the line to Seddonville. On 8 August 1893 it opened to Mokihinui , and on 23 February 1895
2255-549: The liquidation of Solid Energy , had been cut to four trains a day each way. Several tramways fed timber and coal traffic to the line. The most northerly was about 2 km (1.2 mi), from Coal Creek mine to Mokihinui, which was open by 1894. Charming Creek Tramway linked Ngākawau to a sawmill and later a mine. The Stockton mine railway also ran to Ngākawau. It had inclines and a 2 + 1 ⁄ 4 mi (3.6 km) electric railway. The 1 + 1 ⁄ 4 mi (2.0 km) Millerton Incline linked Millerton Mine to
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2310-484: The low population: the Railways Department operated mixed trains , goods trains with passenger carriages attached. For a period they ran to Mokihinui Mine, but on 12 June 1933 they were cancelled beyond Seddonville. Services to Seddonville lasted another 13 years, and on 14 October 1946 the branch closed to passengers. Since then, the only passenger trains have been infrequent enthusiasts' excursions. In
2365-406: The other major obstacle. Construction of Otira Tunnel began in 1907, but progress was very slow. By 1912 only 2.9 km of the projected 9 km length of tunnel was complete and in 1913 the initial contractor walked off the job. In the interim the eastern railhead reached Arthur's Pass in 1914. Cobb & Co coaches were used to transport passengers between the two railheads while the tunnel
2420-572: 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
2475-507: 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
2530-593: The riverbed while the river runs in a fearful gorge all the way". The section would include 16 tunnels and four major viaducts not including the Kowai already constructed. The viaducts were built under Treasury contracts by both New Zealand and British bridging firms. The most spectacular of these, the Staircase Viaduct carries the rails 75 metres above the bed of the stream. It was slow laborious work with men, horses, picks, shovels and very little machinery. It
2585-514: The short-lived Garratt G class ). The class were made famous by a documentary named "K country", a term that has entered into New Zealand railfan jargon . The Garratt G class, by then rebuilt as 'Pacific' type locomotives were also used on this route. To house the larger and more numerous locomotives, Elmer Lane shed opened at Greymouth in 1928. Then the largest roundhouse in the country, its 70 ft (21 m) turntable replaced an earlier 50 ft (15 m) turntable. The Otira tunnel
2640-447: The steep 1 in 33 gradient beyond Seddonville to the Mokihinui Mine, capable of hauling only 180 tons. Occasionally other steam locomotives operated, including U class tender locomotives . In late 1967 dieselisation began with the arrival of D class and D class locomotivess . A year later, the W class had been largely replaced by D class locomotives beyond Waimangaroa. By mid-1969 steam power had ended, and DJ locomotives, joined by
2695-695: Was announced that coking coal from the Pike River Coal mine would be transported to Lyttelton for export. Pike River Coal had reserved under contract with Toll Rail 1.3 million tonnes of capacity for their coal on the line, which since upgrading has a total capacity of 4 million tonnes. However coal from the Pike River facility at Rapahoe stopped since the Pike River Mine disaster in November 2010. The other primary source of coal traffic
2750-632: Was electrified 1923–1997, and two classes of electric locomotives were used – the English Electric EO class and then the New Zealand EA class locomotive . Some members of the EW class and ED class electric locomotives were also used. Diesel traction was introduced to the line in 1968 with the arrival of the DJ class , which until the transfer of DC class locomotives in the early 1980s from
2805-504: 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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#17328018036512860-587: Was not until 1906 that trains were running to a temporary terminus at Broken River – in time for the Christchurch Exhibition and at last enabling the journey, by rail and coach, from Greymouth to Christchurch to be completed in one day. Progress slowed after that although the country to be traversed became much easier. Cass was not reached until 1910 and Arthur's Pass township in 1914 – the Westland section meantime having advanced to Otira – to meet
2915-406: Was reached on 5 August 1876 and regular services began operating. The section to Ngākawau opened for traffic on 26 September 1877, bringing the length to 30 kilometres (18.6 miles). By mid-1878 only one mine, that of the Wellington Coal Company on the north bank of the Waimangaroa River , had opened, and the amount of traffic between Waimangaroa Junction and Ngākawau was so low that that section of
2970-411: 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 ,
3025-400: Was under construction. Undeterred the government continued with construction, despite spiralling costs and labour shortages due to World War I . The tunnel was finally completed in 1923. The Great Journeys of New Zealand train, the TranzAlpine , travels this line. The service operates 7 days as Trains 803 and 804 using DX class locomotives and AK class passenger carriages. Freight on
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