44-399: The Waiau Branch was a branch line railway in the northern Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island . Known as the Great Northern Railway for its first few decades of life, the Waiau Branch was seen as part of a main line north but was ultimately superseded by a coastal route. Opened in stages from 1882 to 1919, the line closed in 1978 but a portion has been retained as
88-510: 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
132-423: 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 the requirements of the customer the spur is serving. In heavily industrialized areas, it
176-464: 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
220-823: 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
264-510: A slower schedule. In 1919, a goods train was added to the schedule and the passenger train between Christchurch and Culverden operated twice daily; these services operated beyond Culverden to Waiau only thrice weekly. Trains sometimes had to be banked through Weka Pass , requiring an engine shed in Waikari , and locomotive depots were established in Waipara, Culverden, and Waiau. In 1907,
308-531: 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
352-466: 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
396-417: 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
440-567: 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
484-532: 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
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#1732787664542528-753: 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
572-1048: 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
616-652: The Hutt Valley , and by 1928 was operating 56 buses. In 1931 Parliament passed the Transport Licensing Act , which regulated local bus services to ensure that services would not compete with NZR. This further increased acquisitions by NZR of small bus companies. By 1954 the bus routes covered 6,000 miles (9,700 km), but generally at higher fares than the railways. For example, the 230 miles (370 km) Christchurch-Dunedin return journey cost £2 13s 6d by rail, but £3 10s by bus and took 7hr 10min on
660-609: The Main North Line . Despite an 1879 report favouring a coastal route via Kaikōura as the line north, the inland route was initially chosen and construction work soon began. Its junction with the Main North Line (though not realised by anyone at the time as it was intended to be the main line itself) would be in Waipara , and the section to Waikari was opened on 6 April 1882. Another report in 1883 also favoured
704-769: The New Zealand Railways Department under the Railways Road Services Branch, introduced a bus connection from Culverden to the popular tourist location of Hanmer Springs, and by the 1920s, the policy of the New Zealand Railways Department was to actively encourage the bus services, which had been expanded. This led the passenger numbers on the line to decline from 20,000 in 1914 to just 3,000 yearly when passenger services were entirely cancelled on 29 January 1939. Freight, however, remained strong on
748-788: 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
792-704: 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
836-690: The Waiau Branch and Waiau Ferry in Canterbury . By the 1920s NZR was noticing a considerable downturn in rail passenger traffic on many lines due to increasing ownership of private cars, and from 1923 it began to coordinate rail passenger services with private bus services. In November 1926, NZR purchased a private bus firm operating between Hastings and Napier in the Hawke's Bay region. NZR then acquired various other bus services in Dunedin and
880-729: The Wairau River valley to Blenheim . Another proposal involved building a line across the Southern Alps to Reefton , and accessing Nelson and Marlborough via a line through the Buller Gorge . The Reefton route remained a possibility for access to the West Coast until the Otira Tunnel was built, and the route to Nelson and Blenheim via Tophouse remained under consideration until the 1930s. Despite many proposals,
924-589: The Weka Pass Railway . During the 1870s, significant debates motivated by regional interests took place regarding the most desirable route for a railway from Canterbury to the West Coast , Nelson , and Marlborough . A number of these plans involved lines that would have in some way incorporated the route of what became the Waiau Branch, and when it was built, it was seen as an integral part of
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#1732787664542968-585: The list of New Zealand railway lines . New Zealand Railways Road Services The New Zealand Railways Road Services (NZRRS) was a branch of the New Zealand Railways Department and later the New Zealand Railways Corporation . It operated long-distance, tourist and suburban bus services and freight trucking and parcel services. Its name was New Zealand Railways Road Motor Service until mid-1936. The first bus operation by NZR began on 1 October 1907, between Culverden on
1012-695: 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
1056-623: 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
1100-469: 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
1144-509: The Waiau Branch (in brackets is the distance in kilometres from Waipara): As part of the main east coast line, the Waiau Branch was a busy railway by the standards of country New Zealand branch lines. The Culverden Express began not long after the line was opened and was the most important train in North Canterbury at the time. The express was supplemented by multiple mixed trains that carried both goods and passengers and ran to
1188-557: The branch line. The rest of the track to Waiau has now been removed, though this was not completed until 1991, and a number of remnants remain on the abandoned route. Much of the line's formation is still visible, and a part of it has been used as a walkway in Waikari, though it does not connect with the Weka Pass Railway's terminus in the town. A few station shelters and goods sheds have been relocated for use on farms near
1232-593: The coastal route, but construction of the Waiau route proceeded and the section to Medbury opened on 15 September 1884, with Culverden reached on 8 February 1886. Construction halted once Culverden was reached, and it became the northern terminus for the main line along the east coast of the South Island. One notable proposal at this time involved extending the line via Hanmer Springs to Tophouse , and then building two routes from there, one to Nelson and one down
1276-489: The end, with complaints as late as 1984 that buses should not be competing with trains. Early years of the Road Services saw many different brands of buses acquired with the various constituent companies. From Ford Model T -based cars to Straker steam trucks, to various Albion , Cadillac , Dodge and Leyland buses. The builders of the bodies were many and various. Leading up to World War II , standardisation
1320-706: The fastest train, but 9hr by bus. By the 1970s, NZRRS offered a nationwide service. Some routes were direct train replacements, but others extended the reach of the railways to other towns and destinations, including: In addition, there were many other local and urban services across the country. There was a certain amount of rivalry within NZR between NZRRS and the rail Traffic Branch and in many ways they competed with rather than complement each other. For example, many cities had bus terminals some distance from railway stations and many NZRRS routes ran parallel to and at similar times to trains. This animosity lasted almost to
1364-569: 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
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1408-427: 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
1452-406: The line suddenly became uneconomic. No other traffic existed that was sufficient to justify the line's continued existence, and closure occurred on 15 January 1978. A union ban led to the track of the Waiau Branch remaining in place for a number of years after the line's closure, which gave locals and railway enthusiasts enough time to form the Weka Pass Railway and preserve the first 13 km of
1496-425: The line's former route, and other relics such as loading banks, station platforms, and pieces of rail can be found at the site of some old stations. Branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off 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
1540-418: The line. Extensive timber resources in the area led to a significant quantity of traffic, and the annual Molesworth Station muster required additional trains to transport the large amount of livestock , with these special services operating well into the 1960s despite the widespread demise of the transportation of livestock throughout the country. The branch was dieselised in 1968, and at this stage, despite
1584-536: The new Passenger Business Group, NZRRS was progressively rebranded: The freight trucking business was split off and combined with rail freight into the Freight Business Group, branded Railfreight Systems. Road and rail services were separated in 1991 when the rail and ferry operations of New Zealand Railways Corporation were transferred to New Zealand Rail Limited and the road transport operations were sold: The road freight operation stayed with
1628-479: The railhead remained in Culverden for a number of decades. In 1902, the Culverden – Waiau Railway Extension League was formed, and it created enough pressure to encourage a new survey of a route from Culverden to Waiau in 1908. It wasn't until 10 June 1914, however, that work on this extension finally began, and despite delays, work continued through World War I , with the line opened to Waiau on 15 December 1919. It
1672-572: 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
1716-526: The relaxation of laws and removal of subsidies that had benefited rail, it was still necessary to run two trains daily. In July 1975, a major storm severely damaged pine growth in the Balmoral State Forest, and the resulting timber that had to be transported resulted in a surge for the line. Multiple trains were required to run daily, sometimes hauled by two locomotives, and this traffic lasted for two years. When it finally ceased in late 1977,
1760-504: 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
1804-502: 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 ,
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1848-688: Was the call. During the 1940s Ford V8 and Bedford truck chassis with New Zealand Motor Bodies (NZMB) became the standard NZRRS bus. In 1950 a 24-seat, forward-control Commer was introduced on the Gisborne -Auckland route. During the 1950s NZRRS began to widely use the Bedford SB chassis fitted with NZMB bodies. So much so, that the Bedford SB was ordered right up until 1980. NZRRS eventually bought 1,240 of these chassis, which were used in suburban, local rural, and long-distance service. This
1892-571: Was the largest fleet of Bedford SB buses in the world. During the late 1970s NZRRS, like many other operators, was having issues with the general reliability of their fleet. Orders were made to Volvo and Hino in an effort to find a better vehicle. Hino and Volvo buses and coaches were purchased right up until the end of the NZRRS. In 1985 the land operations of NZRC was restructured into market-based bi-modal (road and rail) business groups, rather than branches based on mode of transport ,. As part of
1936-494: Was then proposed that the line could be extended to Kaikōura and then through to Marlborough, and some formation was built, but this work ultimately ground to a halt and the line's terminus remained in Waiau. The line effectively became a branch of the Main North Line when approval was given to extend the Parnassus Branch up the coast as the main line; this was completed in 1945. The following stations were located on
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