56-395: The Johnsonville Branch , also known as the Johnsonville Line , is a commuter branch line railway from the main Railway Station of Wellington , New Zealand to the northern suburb of Johnsonville via Ngaio and Khandallah . Transdev Wellington operates the trains under contract from the Greater Wellington Regional Council . In 2001, an estimated 1,043 passengers used
112-591: A guided busway ; and conversion to light rail . On 16 November 2006 the GWRC Public Transport Committee and the WCC Strategy & Policy Committee accepted a "Do Minimum" option involving retention of the line and replacement of the current DM units with the same number of refurbished EM/ET class (Ganz Mavag) units; this required enlarging the tunnels and increasing platform clearances and lengths. GWRC now only use Matangi units on this line after
168-740: A Snapper. Previously, this discount was 25%. Snapper was made available on Valley Flyer buses from 14 June 2009, and on Runcimans school buses in September later that year. As of 2018 Snapper is available on Mana/Newlands Coach Services buses as the Metlink bus network had been unified under one style and one fare system. On 1 December 2009, Snapper announced plans to enter the Auckland market, targeting coverage of 80% of public transport by Rugby World Cup 2011. Infratil , ANZ Bank New Zealand (then ANZ National Bank), Eyede , Unisys and Beca Group pitched Snapper to
224-510: 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
280-464: 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
336-484: A quarter-hourly service at peak periods. The line was the first Wellington line to adopt the Snapper card for fare payments; from 14 November 2021. Commuters "tag" on and off at card readers located on the station platform; the hardware and reader stands etc. were installed from August. The system is a "trial" and will eventually replace paper tickets on other Wellington suburban lines. The line has been passenger-only since
392-786: 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
448-523: 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
504-461: 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
560-569: 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 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
616-411: Is based on a "tag-on", "tag-off" principle, providing valuable data for transport authorities to analyse and plan for travel behaviour. There are 2 different types of cards; a red card for adults, and a green card for school-aged children, which comes pre-loaded with a child concession. Snapper is a contactless smart card based on Infineon and SmartMX (from NXP Semiconductors ) chip sets. It uses
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#1732855222951672-552: 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
728-520: Is the LG Optimus Net. This service requires compatible NFC phone and a special SIM card with the snapper secure element included. In 2012, Snapper ran an email marketing campaign using email addresses from 52,258 bus passengers who used the card. The email addresses, and other personal data such as date of birth and financial transactions, were originally collected by Auckland Transport and provided to Snapper. Auckland Transport said Snapper's marketing
784-488: The Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA), which had made public its intention to introduce smartcards on public transport in Auckland . Snapper released the so-called purple HOP card , which was used only on NZ Bus services (but no other Auckland bus company or service) in Auckland from March 2011 until late 2013. After Auckland Transport superseded ARTA in 2010, Thales Group was awarded
840-529: 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
896-717: 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
952-1013: 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
1008-805: The Johnsonville Railway Station was upgraded by widening and lengthening in 2015 to include cycle lanes and extra road lanes over it. Provision is made for dual tracks underneath (formerly one track) into the station, as requested by the Greater Wellington Regional Council for future double-tracking. Proposed infrastructure upgrades for the line include overhead line and mast replacement, sleeper replacement in tunnels and stabilisation of high risk slopes; to be completed in 2022. 41°13′24.01″S 174°48′17″E / 41.2233361°S 174.80472°E / -41.2233361; 174.80472 Branch line A branch line
1064-860: The New Zealand Railways network. Construction started in 1879, and the first section, to Paremata, opened on 24 September 1885. The line became part of the North Island Main Trunk when the government bought the WMR in December 1908. The line was used by railway workers from the Tarikaka Settlement in Ngaio , including early shift workers who needed to fire up steam locomotives at the Wellington depot. Two experimental RM class railcars were briefly used on
1120-761: 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
1176-672: 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
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#17328552229511232-763: The Triple DES cryptographic system, which is standard in financial cards and has been approved in New Zealand as a secure mechanism for connection through to the EFTPOS network. The Snapper system is an adaptation of the T-money system used in South Korea. On 3 May 2012, Snapper and 2degrees mobile announced the launch of a service that allows customers with a compatible NFC phone to make payments in all Snapper merchants using their mobile phone. The first phone to support this service
1288-725: The list of New Zealand railway lines . Snapper card The Snapper card is a contactless electronic ticketing card used to pay for bus and train fares in Wellington, New Zealand. It was introduced in Wellington in July 2008. Another version – the Snapper HOP card – was introduced to Auckland in 2011 and withdrawn from Auckland in late 2013. Snapper CityLink cards were introduced in Whangārei in March 2014 and withdrawn in September 2018. It
1344-511: The 27th of November 2022; marking full integration with the rest of the Snapper system. The Capital Connection (running between Wellington and Palmerston North) does not accept the Snapper card as it is not a Metlink service, and instead has its own ticketing and fare structure. Tickets for the East by West Ferry in Wellington could be purchased with Snapper cards at Queen's Wharf. Since early 2010,
1400-593: The FT/FP "Matangi" EMUs on 19 March 2012. The first Matangi service was the 11:02 departure from Wellington, which passed the last English Electric service on the line at Ngaio station. The new Matangi EMUs struggled on the Johnsonville Line with rail track squeal and to maintain the schedule used for the English Electrics, especially in wet conditions. To improve schedule reliability, the Johnsonville Line timetable
1456-521: The Greater Wellington region. In 2015, Snapper announced that, from 1 June, these contactless payments would no longer be available in stores and retail outlets (but may still be accepted in some schools). Starting in September 2010, Snapper could be used as payment for around 700 of Wellington's 1250 taxis. This was removed on 1 September 2020 due to it being available less often in taxis and used less by passengers. The bus-ticketing system
1512-666: 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
1568-460: The Snapper card could be used to tag-on and tag-off the ferry, much like on buses, but there was no discount for using it on the ferry. Tag on-tag off services on the ferry have been discontinued. The old style card readers are there but they are covered up and disabled. Many retailers in Wellington allowed Snapper as a form of payment, and facilitate topping up a Snapper card. These included FIX convenience stores, dairies and ticket offices throughout
1624-599: 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
1736-614: The Whangarei bus network, which was replaced with the Bee Card. The Johnsonville Branch was the first line to adopt the Snapper card system for fare payments on the 14th of November 2021, with the hardware, reader stands, and other necessary equipment being installed previously in August. "Snapper on rail" (as coined by Metlink) operated similarly to the already in-use bus system, with commuters required to "tag" on and off at card readers located on
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1792-583: The contract and Snapper was required to exit the Auckland market after failing to make their system compatible with Thales' system. Subsequently, the rollout of the AT HOP card for all Auckland bus, train and ferry services was completed by Auckland Transport by March 2014. On 3 March 2014, the Northland Regional Council introduced Snapper cards for Whangarei's urban bus network, CityLink Whangarei. On 29 September 2019, Snapper cards were phased out for
1848-450: The decision to withdraw all Ganz Mavag units in the region from service in favour of a larger order of Matangi units. GWRC envisaged (2007) that the track through the tunnels would need to be lowered by 120 mm, depending on the new units. Lengthening of passing loops and platforms was also likely to be needed, and the estimated cost was $ 5 million. A programme of preparatory work for the tunnel upgrading commenced on 7 September 2008 and
1904-494: The earlier ED class locomotives, which were hard on the track with their long rigid wheelbase. The first through revenue-earning train on the line ran on 30 October 1886 from Longburn to Johnsonville, carrying 355 sheep and 60 head of cattle for the Wellington Meat Preserving Company at Ngauranga. The line is single track through very steep terrain rising 150 m above sea level in its 10 km length, with
1960-552: 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
2016-456: The first train at a crossing station or siding (Wadestown, Ngaio and Khandallah) claimed the next block (if two arrived simultaneously, the up train got priority as there was a five-second delay for the down train). The system was revised in July 1969; the second platform siding at Johnsonville was removed and the goods yard (since removed) became a switch-locked siding. Signal boxes were initially retained at Ngaio and Khandallah. Up to 1984 when
2072-541: The highest point (152 m) at the north end of Kaka Tunnel. The ruling grade is 1 in 36, with long sections from Wellington to Crofton Downs and Khandallah of 1 in 40. There are seven narrow tunnels, six bridges, and three passing loops . There are three level crossings with half-barriers; at the Simla Crescent and Khandallah stations, and at Fraser Avenue between Khandallah and Raroa stations (the Fraser Avenue crossing
2128-534: 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
2184-451: The line as NZR sought to develop economically viable railcar technology. The Westinghouse railcar was introduced in 1914 and served through to 1917. The Thomas Transmission railcar was introduced in 1916 and operated sporadically into the early 1920s. Both railcars struggled on the steep grades and revealed that further advances were needed to make railcars suitable to New Zealand's conditions. Trains going north often used banking engines on
2240-705: The line in 1942 and supplied in 1946. The line was terminated in Johnsonville , about 100 m beyond the end of the current line: the State Highway 1 motorway on-ramp follows the route of the old line. Ngaio and Khandallah stations already had crossing loops, and new stations at Awarua Street and Simla Crescent plus a third crossing loop (without passenger platforms) at Wadestown between No. 3 and No. 4 tunnels were added. The two new stations had been used by steam trains from 10 January 1938, although only some local trains stopped there (on request). Even with two additional stops
2296-629: The line on a working day. The line has seven tunnels and eight stations. Four stations ( Crofton Downs , Awarua Street , Box Hill , and Raroa ) are on a curve. There are three crossing loops: at Ngaio and Khandallah stations and below Wadestown in the Ngaio Gorge. The line was built in the 1880s as part of the Wellington-Manawatu railway line constructed by the private Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company line, to connect Wellington to Longburn near Palmerston North where it linked with
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2352-580: The line was truncated and the station was moved to accommodate the mall, the station had two sidings on either side of the station platform and the preferred platform was alternated every 12 hours to equalise usage. The Wellington City Council let a $ 1.7m tender to replace the Rangoon Street single-lane overbridge of c1906, which crosses the Johnsonville line, with a two-lane bridge. Work commenced in June 2008 and
2408-556: 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
2464-507: 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
2520-547: The station platform. The reason for the system only being installed on the Johnsonville Branch at first, was to act as a “trial run” to gauge if the system was viable to replace paper tickets on other Wellington suburban lines. The Snapper system was eventually rolled out to the Kapiti Line , Hutt Valley Line , and Melling Branch on the 12th of November 2022. The Wairarapa Connection adopted Snapper at later date, on
2576-760: The steep grade from Lambton to Ngaio and sometimes when going south from Johnsonville to Raroa. The line became a branch when the Tawa Flat deviation of the NIMT opened to passengers in 1937, and was sometimes called The Hill (in NZR jargon ). The line was electrified at 1500 V DC overhead supply, and the new service with the new English Electric DM/D class electric multiple units service started from Monday 4 July 1938, after an opening ceremony on 2 July. The units normally operated as two-car motor/trailer sets, or four-car sets in peak hours. Additional DM/D class units were ordered for
2632-537: The termination of livestock trains for an abattoir in the Ngauranga Gorge. The livestock were originally driven on foot through Johnsonville streets from a stockyard adjacent to the station, but after protests sidings near Raroa were opened on 2 February 1958. The livestock traffic ceased about 1973, though the sidings at Raroa were not lifted until about 1982. Because of the sharp curves on the line, EW class electric locomotives were used for livestock trains instead of
2688-402: The time to Johnsonville was now 19 minutes either way; previously with steam operation trains took 25 minutes up and 21 minutes down. Stations were added at Raroa (1940), Box Hill (1956) and Crofton Downs (1963). The line was reviewed in 1984, 1993 and 2006–07 to consider either closing or upgrading it, without any significant changes being made. A half-hourly service runs daily, augmented to
2744-643: Was completed by December 2008. Three traction substations along the line take electricity from Wellington Electricity 's 11,000-volt distribution network and transform and rectify it to 1500-volt direct current for the overhead traction lines. The substations are located at Wellington (shared with the Kapiti and Hutt Valley Lines), Ngaio and Khandallah. The names of the tunnels and their length in feet and metres are: The North Wellington Public Transport Study by GWRC and WCC considered four options for improved public transport: enhanced rail; bus on street; conversion to
2800-568: Was completed in 2022. A steel section of the pedestrian overbridge at Raroa railway station was also replaced in Easter 2022 (16-18 April)). Due to significant mechanical difficulties being experienced by Tranz Metro in keeping the DM/D EMUs in service, several units were withdrawn from service in February 2012. Buses were added to supplement the remaining service capacity pending the planned introduction of
2856-424: Was completed in February 2009. Construction took place after 20:00 on Sunday – Thursday nights to minimise disruption to commuters, with services being replaced by buses. The seven tunnels were upgraded in January 2009 during a period in which the line was closed to all traffic. The work included: Upgrading of the overhead power catenary system with replacement of the remaining one hundred wooden poles by steel poles
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#17328552229512912-399: 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
2968-406: Was initially changed to a longer morning peak journey time of 22 minutes to Wellington and 26 minutes to Johnsonville and it is now 23 minutes and 28 minutes. The proposed redevelopment of the Johnsonville Town Centre was to include improvements to the rail and bus terminal at Johnsonville; the terminal is now referred to as the Johnsonville Hub . The Broderick Road overbridge immediately south of
3024-425: Was last to get barriers as well as bells, in 2009). There is a private rail crossing to a house immediately south of the Fraser Avenue crossing; and a pedestrian crossing from Burma Road to Poona Street, Khandallah between the Khandallah station and the Rangoon Street road overbridge. Pedestrians can also cross the line at the Ngaio station. The signals were operated by the trains, a standard SLA Absolute Block System;
3080-413: Was owned by Snapper Services Limited, a former subsidiary of Infratil until 2019 when it was sold to ICM Limited, a subsidiary of Allectus Capital. GO Wellington buses were the first to use Snapper cards, with "tag on/off" card readers inside the bus entrance and exit doors. It was trialled by 200 users on route 17 to Karori . From 1 June 2009 there is a 20% discount on standard fares for adults using
3136-411: 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 ,
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