Building the Network 

The first New Zealand ‘railway’ was a private mining line near Nelson that opened in 1862. The next year the country’s first steam-powered public railway opened - a 7km line from Christchurch to Ferrymead. By 1870 New Zealand had just 74km of railway.

New Zealand’s first railways were built by provincial governments or private companies. From 1870 central government took a more active role and by 1880 New Zealand Railways (NZR) was operating more than 1,900km of track, and carrying almost 3 million passengers and 830,000 tons of freight a year.

The completion of the North Island Main Trunk in November 1908 was a major landmark in New Zealand's economic and social history. It paved the way for European settlement of the central North Island and vastly improved the movement of people and goods around the country.

The 23 year project to design and build the line is considered a feat of engineering and construction. The line traverses a harsh and unforgiving landscape using soaring steel viaducts and the world-famous Raurimu Spiral.

New Zealand has a long history of electric-powered railways. The first was a 14km section through the Otira tunnel in the South Island. By the early 1950s all of Wellington's metro lines were electrified.

New Zealand’s biggest rail electrification project – involving the North Island Main Trunk between Hamilton and Palmerston North – was undertaken in the 1980s. Now ONTRACK is working on the electrification of the Auckland suburban network, due to be completed in 2013.