86-719: The Mōkihinui River is a river located on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island , about 40 kilometres north of Westport . Meridian Energy had proposed the Mokihinui Hydro project on the river in 2007 but it was cancelled in May 2012. In 2019, it was announced that 64,400 ha (159,000 acres) of land in the Mōkihinui River catchment, including 15 km (9.3 mi) of river bed, would be added to Kahurangi National Park . The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives
172-434: A decline in passenger, freight and train miles run but also led to an increase in profitability. In the 1917 Annual Report, a record 5.3% return on investment was made. The war did take its toll on railway services, with dining cars being removed from passenger trains in 1917, replaced by less labour-intensive refreshment rooms at railway stations along the way. As a result, the "scramble for pie and tea at Taihape " became
258-597: A new railway station and head office in Wellington were approved, along with the electrification of the Johnsonville Line (then still part of the North Island Main Trunk). The Wellington railway station and Tawa flat deviation were both completed in 1937. As part of attempts by NZR to win back passengers from private motor vehicles, the same year the first 56-foot carriages were introduced. Garnet Mackley
344-457: A part of New Zealand folklore. Non-essential rail services were curtailed as more staff took part in the war effort, and railway workshops were converted for producing military equipment, on top of their existing maintenance and construction work. The war soon affected the supply of coal to the railways. Although hostilities ended in 1918, the coal shortage carried on into 1919 as first miners strikes and then an influenza epidemic cut supplies. As
430-567: A population of 362 to each mile of railway already made. In August 1881 the Railways Construction and Land Act was passed, allowing joint-stock companies to build and run private railways, as long as they were built to the government's standard rail gauge of 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ) and connected with the government railway lines. The Act had the effect of authorising the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company to build
516-492: A report known as the "Fay Raven Report" which gave qualified approval to Coates' programme. The reports only significant change was the proposal of a Cook Strait train ferry service between Wellington and Picton, to link the two systems up. Coates went on to become Prime Minister in 1925, an office he held until 1928 when he was defeated at the general election of that year . While the Westfield and Tawa Flat deviations proceeded,
602-399: A result, non-essential services remained in effect until the end of 1919. Shortages of spare parts and materials led to severe inflation, and repairs on locomotives being deferred. Similar coal-saving timetable cuts occurred at the end of the next war in 1945 and 1946. In 1920 the 3,000-mile (4,800 km) milestone of open railway lines was reached and 15 million passengers were carried by
688-616: A secondary place altogether, and probably will be torn up, and we shall have motor traffic taking their place .” Section 12 of that Act allowed for government borrowing and Section 19 required local councils to provide half the cost of road improvements. By setting in place a system of subsidy from ratepayers and taxpayers, whilst requiring railways to make a 3¾% profit (at that rate, interest amounted to over 22% of total earnings), Coates ensured his prophecy came true, as railways gradually became uneconomic. He also encouraged publicity for rail travel. The following year, Gordon Coates became
774-508: A translation of "large flax-stalk raft" for Mōkihinui . Since 2019 the official name of the river has been spelled with a macron . The Mōkihinui River's headwaters are located in the Glasgow Range and its mouth is on the Tasman Sea . There is little human habitation near the river: the localities of Mokihinui and Summerlea are near the river's mouth, Seddonville is a few kilometres up
860-446: Is 855 m (2,805 ft) long, up to 105 m (344 ft) wide and 15 m (49 ft) deep. Lake Perrine is now 5 km (3.1 mi) long, up to 450 m (1,480 ft) wide and 25 m (82 ft) deep. However, initially it dammed the river to a depth of 23 m (75 ft) at the entrance to the gorge, forming an 11 km (6.8 mi) lake. The earthquake created the dams on 17 June, but 8 m (26 ft) of
946-559: Is at Shantytown . Other towns and settlements include: The West Coast region is governed by the West Coast Regional Council. Currently, it is chaired by Peter Haddock. The subnational gross domestic product (GDP) of the West Coast was estimated at NZ$ 2,373 million in the year to March 2022, 0.7% of New Zealand's national GDP. The regional GDP per capita was estimated at $ 72,127 in the same period. The region had one of
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#17328525188731032-874: Is in Greymouth. The region has been included in the "Top 10 Coastal Drives of the World" by Lonely Planet . The region has the only New Zealand nesting place of the kōtuku (white heron) , at the Waitangiroto Nature Reserve , visited by tours from the small farming township of Whataroa . This rare bird appears on the $ 2 coin. Over 80% of West Coast land is administered by the Department of Conservation, much of this being in National Parks. These include from north to south, parts of Kahurangi NP, Paparoa NP, parts of Arthurs Pass NP, Westland NP, parts of Aspiring NP plus
1118-538: Is the least populous of New Zealand's sixteen regions. The West Coast is also the most sparsely populated region, with just 1.50 people per square kilometre (3.88 per square mile). West Coast Region had a population of 33,390 in the 2023 New Zealand census , an increase of 1,815 people (5.7%) since the 2018 census , and an increase of 1,242 people (3.9%) since the 2013 census . There were 17,031 males, 16,245 females and 117 people of other genders in 14,793 dwellings. 2.7% of people identified as LGBTIQ+ . The median age
1204-546: Is the only region of New Zealand where coal mining is still widely practiced. The name Westland is used by some New Zealanders to refer to the whole of the West Coast, including Grey District , Buller District and Fiordland , and can also refer to the short-lived Westland Province of 1873–76. Fiordland is on the west coast, but is in the Southland Region rather than the West Coast Region. Inhabitants of
1290-486: Is three hours of grade III water downstream from where the north and south forks meet. A river level of 1.0–1.5 metres is an optimum flow. The last few kilometres of the former Seddonville Branch railway roughly followed the Mōkihinui River near its mouth. The Branch opened on 23 February 1895 and closed on 3 May 1981, while a further extension beyond Seddonville to Mokihinui Mine closed in February 1974. During this period,
1376-729: The Canterbury Plains and in the Firth of Thames , they have been almost completely destroyed for settlement and agriculture. Scenic areas include the Haast Pass , Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers , Hokitika Gorge , Lake Brunner , the Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki , the Oparara Arches and the Heaphy Track . The region has very high rainfall due to the prevailing northwesterly wind pattern and
1462-545: The English Electric built DE class , were introduced in 1951. The locomotives gave good service but were not powerful or numerous enough to seriously displace steam traction. In 1954, the New Zealand railway network reached its zenith in terms of distance with 5,600 km (3,500 mi), 60% of it on gradients between 1 in 100 and 1 in 200 and 33% steeper than 1 in 100. The EW class electric locomotives introduced for
1548-634: The Leyland experimental petrol railcar and a fleet of Model T Ford railbuses , the Sentinel-Cammell steam railcar and from 1926 the Clayton steam railcar and successful Edison battery-electric railcar . 10 years later in 1936 the Leyland diesel railbus was introduced, but the first truly successful railcar class to enter service began operating that year, the Wairarapa railcar specially designed to operate over
1634-621: The Liberal Government of Premier Richard Seddon appointed Alfred Cadman as the first Minister of Railways . The Minister appointed a General Manager for the railways, keeping the operation under tight political control. Apart from four periods of government-appointed commissions (1889–1894, 1924–1928, 1931–1936 and 1953–1957), this system remained in place until the department was corporatised in 1982. In 1895, patronage had reached 3.9M passengers per annum and 2.048M tonnes. NZR produced its first New Zealand-built steam locomotive in 1889;
1720-503: The Long Depression , which led to great financial constraint on the department. As a result, the central government passed legislation to allow for the construction of more private railways. A Commission, ordered by Hall, had in 1880 reviewed 85 proposed and partly-constructed railway lines in the colony, and it proposed postponing 21 projects and recommended against proceeding with 29 others. The Commissioners were especially critical of
1806-622: The Lyttelton Line in Christchurch, completed in 1929, at the same voltage and current. This again saw English Electric supply locomotives, the EC class . Gordon Coates , on 24 October 1922, as Minister of Public Works, in introducing his Main Highways Act , said, “ I say the day will come when it will be found that through the use of motor transport certain railways in New Zealand will be relegated to
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#17328525188731892-784: The New Zealand Railways Department dumped two old steam locomotives along the river's banks between Seddonville and Mokihinui Mine to protect against erosion. The first of these locomotives, W 292 , was dumped in 1958, while sister W 299 was dumped in January 1960. Both were recovered from the Mōkihinui River in 1989 by the Baldwin Steam Trust, and are under restoration at the Rimutaka Incline Railway. West Coast Region The West Coast ( Māori : Te Tai Poutini , lit. 'The Coast of Poutini,
1978-754: The Rimutaka Incline . This class followed the building of the Red Terror (an inspection car on a Leyland Cub chassis) for the General Manager in 1933. More classes followed over the years, primarily to operate regional services. Following the success of the Wairarapa railcar class, in 1938 the Standard class railcars were introduced. A further improvement to passenger transport came in July that year, with electric services on
2064-511: The South Island , mainly consisting of the 630 km (390 mi) Main South Line from the port of Lyttelton to Bluff. The Railways Department was formed in 1880 during the premiership of Sir John Hall . That year, the private Port Chalmers Railway Company Limited was acquired by the department and new workshops at Addington opened. Ironically, the first few years of NZR were marked by
2150-527: The Taniwha ') is a region of New Zealand on the west coast of the South Island . It is administered by the West Coast Regional Council , and is known co-officially as Te Tai Poutini . It comprises the territorial authorities of Buller District , Grey District and Westland District . The principal towns are Westport , Greymouth and Hokitika . The region, one of the more remote areas of
2236-635: The W class built in the Addington Railway Workshops . Along with opening new lines, NZR began acquiring a number of the private railways which had built railway lines around the country. It acquired the Waimea Plains Railway Company in 1886. At the same time, a protracted legal battle began with the New Zealand Midland Railway Company , which was only resolved in 1898. The partially completed Midland line
2322-1212: 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 co-ordinate rail passenger services with private bus services. The New Zealand Railways Road Services branch was formed to operate bus services. In 1911 tenders for bookstalls were being advertised for 33 main stations - Auckland , Frankton Junction , Rotorua . Paeroa , Taumarunui , Ohakune , Taihape , Marton , Feilding , Palmerston North , Levin , Wellington Thorndon and Lambton , Masterton , Woodville , Dannevirke . Waipukurau . Hastings , Napier , New Plymouth , Stratford , Hāwera , Aramoho , Whanganui , Nelson , Christchurch , Ashburton , Timaru , Oamaru , Dunedin , Milton , Gore , and Invercargill . By 1912, patronage had reached 13.4M passengers per annum (a 242% increase since 1895) and 5.9M tonnes of freight (a 188% increase since 1895). In 1913, damages of £15 were awarded against New Zealand Railways to S. J. Gibbons by
2408-740: The Wairarapa and Wellington. This led to the closure of the Rimutaka Incline and its unique Fell railway system. Because steam locomotives could not be operated through the new tunnel, the Wairarapa Line was the first to be fully "dieselised". Amid many protests, the isolated Nelson Section was closed, although future Nelson Railway Proposals resurfaced from 1957. The RM class "88 seater" or "Fiats" also began entering service from 1955. The railcars were designed to take over provincial inter-city routes but proved to be mechanically unreliable. Despite large orders for diesel-electric locomotives, NZR
2494-535: The Wellington - Auckland express was derailed due to a bridge collapse north of Tangiwai due to a lahar from a volcanic eruption, in what became known as the Tangiwai disaster . The following year NZR introduced the dual-cab D class in 1954, the first main-line diesel-electric locomotives in service. They proved to be unsuccessful in service and the original order of 31 was cancelled, and D class locomotives, also built by English Electric , ordered instead. While
2580-661: The Wellington-Manawatu Line . In 1877 the first American locomotives were purchased; the NZR K class (1877) from Rogers , followed by the NZR T class of 1879 from Baldwin . The most important construction project for NZR at this time was the central section of the North Island Main Trunk . Starting from Te Awamutu on 15 April 1885, the section—including the famous Raurimu Spiral —was not completed for another 23 years. The economy gradually improved and in 1895
2666-478: The Westland Province , until the abolition of the provincial system in 1876. The West Coast gold rush between 1864 and 1867 created numerous gold rush towns such as Ōkārito, which at one time was the largest town on the West Coast but quickly almost vanished as miners moved on. After that time, the population dwindled, but the main towns that still exist had become established. Following greenstone and gold,
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2752-399: The 2019–2020 season, there were 150,000 milking cows on the West Coast, 3.0% of the country's total herd. The cows produced 50,700 tonnes of milk solids, worth $ 365 million at the national average farmgate price ($ 7.20 per kg). Other industries are the manufacturing and sales of greenstone jewellery, sphagnum moss gathering and stone-collection for garden landscaping. Monteith's brewery
2838-514: The D class proved more successful than the D class, steam remained the dominant form of traction. This led to the introduction of the D class in 1955, the largest fleet of diesel-electric locomotives NZR ever introduced. The D class, more than any other class, displaced steam locomotives from the North Island . On 3 November of the same year the 8.798 kilometres (5.467 mi) long Rimutaka Tunnel opened, greatly reducing transit times between
2924-755: The Government Railways Board. Another Act of Parliament, the Government Railways Amendment Act 1931 was passed. The Railways Board was independent of the Government of the day and answered to the Minister of Finance . During this period the Prime Minister George Forbes was also Minister of Railways, and Minister of Finance was former Minister of Railways Gordon Coates . The Railways Board was chaired by Herbert Harry Sterling,
3010-677: The Johnsonville Line starting with the introduction of the DM/D English Electric Multiple Units . Three new locomotive classes appeared in 1939: the K class , K class and the J class . The K was a further development of the K class, while the J class was primarily for lighter trackage in the South Island. The numerically smaller K class were allocated to the Midland line , where they dominated traffic. This led to
3096-568: The Lake Perrine dam washed out on 4 July 1929. It carried debris which formed a new temporary dam in the gorge below Seddonville. That water backed up until some buildings in Seddonville were flooded to their rooftops. The wooden hall floated about 5 ch (100 m) before bumping against a shop. It was replaced by the H. E. Holland Memorial Library . In an extreme weather event in December 2010,
3182-627: The Milson deviation and Rimutaka Tunnel projects remained stalled. The onset of the Great Depression from late 1929 saw these projects scaled back or abandoned. The Westfield deviation was completed in 1930 and the Tawa deviation proceeded at a snail's pace. A number of new lines under construction were casualties, including the Rotorua-Taupo line, approved in July 1928 but abandoned almost a year later due to
3268-576: The Minister of Railways. Coates was an ambitious politician who had an almost "religious zeal" for his portfolio. During the summer of 1923, he spent the entire parliamentary recess inspecting the department's operations. The following year, he put forward a "Programme of Improvements and New Works'". Coates scheme proposed spending £8 million over 8 years. This was later expanded to £10 million over 10 years. The programme included: An independent commission, led by Sir Sam Fay and Sir Vincent Raven produced
3354-709: The North Island and Blenheim in the South Island, as part of the " Rail Air " service. In 1950, Straits Air Freight Express (later known as SAFE Air) took over the contract from the RNZAF. The service was discontinued in the early 1980s. The General Manager of NZR, Frank Aickin , was an advocate for electrifying the entire North Island Main Trunk to alleviate the shortage of coal and the cost of importing diesel fuel; though he also recognised that steam and diesel traction would be required on other lines. NZR's first diesel-electric locomotives,
3440-623: The South Westland World Heritage Area. Each of these parks have flora and fauna common to all areas, as well as species, like kiwi, particular to those areas. Four roads run into the West Coast Region. The main road running the length of the region is State Highway 6 . It connects to the Tasman District in the north through the Buller Gorge , and to Otago in the south via Haast Pass . Two roads connect to Canterbury to
3526-622: The Supreme Court in a precedent-setting case; for damages to a car that hit a train at a level crossing: see Cliff Road railway station . The outbreak of World War I in 1914 had a significant impact on the Railways Department. That year the A class appeared, and the following year the first A class locomotives were introduced. This class went on to become the most numerous locomotive class in New Zealand history, with several examples surviving into preservation. The war itself led to
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3612-569: The Taramakau River in 1864 by two Māori, Ihaia Tainui and Haimona Taukau. By the end of the year there were an estimated 1800 prospectors, many of them around the Hokitika area, which in 1866 was briefly the most populous settlement in New Zealand. The region was divided between Nelson Province and Canterbury Province from 1853: in 1873 the Canterbury portion of the region formed its own province,
3698-436: The Wellington electric system. They were the second class of electric locomotive to be used on this section of electrification. They were the most powerful locomotives on the system till the D class arrived in 1972. Aicken went as far as negotiating a tentative contract for the construction of electrification and locomotives for it, but fell out with the Government in late 1951 and resigned. His successor, H.C. Lusty, terminated
3784-536: The West Coast are colloquially known as "Coasters". The region reaches from Kahurangi Point in the north to Awarua Point in the south, a distance of 600 km. It has an area of 23,246 km . To the west is the Tasman Sea (which like the Southern Ocean can be very rough, with four-metre swells common), and to the east are the Southern Alps . Much of the land is rugged, with a coastal plain where much of
3870-415: The area was famous across New Zealand for its richness in pounamu greenstone. Kāi Tahu traded millions of modern New Zealand dollars ' worth of the stone across New Zealand , making Te Tai Poutini one of the wealthiest regions in the country. After the arrival of Europeans, the region became famed for its vast and mostly untapped gold reserves, which historically had not been highly valued. The region
3956-420: The census question. Of those at least 15 years old, 2,658 (9.5%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 15,825 (56.6%) had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 8,490 (30.4%) people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $ 32,700, compared with $ 41,500 nationally. 1,956 people (7.0%) earned over $ 100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15
4042-537: The coining of the phrase "KB country" to describe the area, made famous by the National Film Unit 's documentary of the same title. As with the first world war, the Second World War had a significant impact on railways. The war created major labour shortages across the economy generally, and while considered "essential industry", railways were no exception. A large number of NZR employees signed up to fight in
4128-666: The colony's existing railways' inability to generate sufficient income to pay the interest on the loans that had funded their construction: The extent to which this fatal mistake has been made may be in some degree realized by a comparison of the relations between railways and population in this and other countries. In Great Britain the amount of population to each mile of railway is 1,961; in the United States, 580; in New South Wales, 1,108; in Victoria, 924; while in New Zealand we have only
4214-399: The completion of the Midland Line in the South Island . The tunnel included the first section of railway electrification in New Zealand and its first electric locomotives, the original E class . The section was electrified at 1,500 V DC, due to the steep grade in the tunnel, and included its own hydro-electric power station. The second section to be electrified by the department was
4300-412: The contract and entered into an agreement with General Motors for the supply of 40 EMD G12 model locomotives, designated by NZR as the D class . The first of these locomotives entered service in September 1955, with all of this initial order running by September 1957. On Christmas Eve 1953, the worst disaster in NZR's history, and one of the worst in New Zealand's history occurred. 151 people died when
4386-496: The country, is also the most sparsely populated. With a population of just 32,900 people, the West Coast is the least populous region in New Zealand. The population in the region grew by 0.4% over the year to July 2023. The region has a rich and important history. The land itself is ancient, stretching back to the Carboniferous period ; this is evident by the amount of carboniferous materials naturally found there, especially coal . First settled by Kāi Tahu in approximately 1200 AD,
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#17328525188734472-416: The department. An acute housing shortage following the war led to the creation of Railways Department's Housing Scheme in 1922. The first of the now-iconic railway houses were prefabricated in a factory in Frankton for NZR staff. This scheme was shut down in 1929 as it was considered improper for a government department to compete with private builders. The Otira Tunnel was completed in 1923, heralding
4558-417: The depression. An exception was the Stratford–Okahukura Line , finished in 1933. However, there was criticism that maintenance was being neglected. In the Liberals last year of office in 1912, 140 miles (230 km) of line had been relaid, but that was reduced to 118 in 1913, 104 in 1914, 81 in 1924 and 68 in 1925, during the Reform Government 's years. Once again, growing traffic requirements led to
4644-424: The east, State Highway 7 through Lewis Pass to North Canterbury and State Highway 73 via Arthur's Pass to Christchurch . The Midland railway line is the only railway line into the region. It links to Christchurch via Arthur's Pass. The TranzAlpine train service runs return between Christchurch and Greymouth daily and freight lines extend to Ngākawau and Hokitika . Daily passenger flights operate into
4730-473: The flow in the river reached 2,853 cumecs . The estimated return period for this event is between 20 and 50 years. The flood caused significant property damage in the Seddonville area. Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Waewae are the manawhenua tribes of the area. A tramping track called the Old Ghost Road runs along the south bank of the river giving access to Kahurangi National Park . The river of interest for recreation and commercial whitewater activities. There
4816-428: The following year Parliament passed the Transport Licensing Act 1931 . The Act regulated the carriage of goods and entrenched the monopoly the department had on land transport. It set a minimum distance road transport operators could transport goods at 30 miles (48 km) before they had to be licensed. The Act was repealed in 1982. Alongside these changes, in 1931 the Railways Department was briefly restructured into
4902-415: The former General Manager, and had 10 members from around the country. The Board stopped building on the Dargaville branch , Gisborne line, Main South Line, Nelson Section, Okaihau to Rangiahua line and Westport-Inangahua line . For that it was criticised by Bob Semple , the new Minister of Public Works, in a speech in 1935 and abolished by the First Labour Government in 1936. In 1933 plans for
4988-400: The introduction of a new type of locomotive, the ill-fated G class Garratt locomotives in 1928. Three of the locomotives were introduced for operation on the North Island Main Trunk. They were not well suited to New Zealand conditions: they had overly complex valve gear , were too hot for crews manning them and too powerful for the wagons they were hauling. The failure of this class lead to
5074-463: The introduction of the K class in 1932. Tough economic conditions and increasing competition from road transport led to calls for regulation of the land transport sector. In 1931 it was claimed half a million tons of freight had been lost to road transport. That year, the department carried 7.2 million passengers per year, down from 14.2 million in 1923. In 1930 a Royal Commission on Railways recommended that land transport should be "co-ordinated" and
5160-424: The location of the Southern Alps, which give rise to heavy orographic precipitation . The rain shadow effect is responsible for the relatively arid climate of the Canterbury Plains on the other side of the Southern Alps. The region is home to Ngāi Tahu , who value it for the greenstone (pounamu) found there in abundance. The region was only occasionally visited by Europeans until the discovery of gold near
5246-479: The most powerful locomotive at the time. Gold rushes led to the construction of the Thames Branch , opening in 1898. In 1906 the Dunedin railway station was completed, architect George Troup . A. L. Beattie became Chief Mechanical Officer in April 1900. Beattie designed the famous A class , the Q class (the first "Pacific" type locomotive in the world), and many other locomotive classes. NZR's first bus operation began on 1 October 1907, between Culverden on
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#17328525188735332-421: The national park. The addition increased the size of the park by 14%. The area added to the park includes part of the route of the Old Ghost Road , a 85 km (53 mi) mountain biking and hiking trail that follows a historic gold miners' route. Lake Perrine and Lake Dora are in the Mōkihinui Forks area. They are landslide lakes , dammed when slopes collapsed during the 1929 Murchison Earthquake . Lake Dora
5418-527: The next valuable mineral was coal. Discovered near the Buller River in the mid-1840s, mining began in earnest during the 1860s. By the 1880s coal had become the region's main industry, with mines throughout the northern half of the region, especially around Westport . Many of these continued in operation until the mid-20th century, and several survive. Timber has also long been a major industry, although in recent years there has been an uneasy balance between forestry for wood and forestry for conservation. Much of
5504-399: The population resides. It is divided into the three local government districts of (from north to south) Buller , Grey and Westland . The land is very scenic, with wild coastlines, mountains and a very high proportion of native bush , much of it native temperate rain forest . It is the only part of New Zealand where significant tracts of lowland forest remain: elsewhere, for instance on
5590-411: The railway system . The Department was created in 1880 and was corporatised on 1 April 1982 into the New Zealand Railways Corporation . Originally, railway construction and operation took place under the auspices of the former provincial governments and some private railways, before all of the provincial operations came under the central Public Works Department . The role of operating the rail network
5676-458: The region is public land administered by the Department of Conservation and the region has some of the best remaining stands of native forest, along with a wealth of rare wildlife. Ecotourism is now an important industry, and this goes hand in hand with the conservation efforts. The West Coast region covers 23,245.52 km (8,975.15 sq mi) and has an estimated population of 34,800 as of June 2024, 0.7% of New Zealand's population. It
5762-400: The region. Air New Zealand flies between Christchurch and Hokitika and Sounds Air between Wellington and Westport. New Zealand Railways Department The New Zealand Railways Department , NZR or NZGR (New Zealand Government Railways) and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating
5848-483: The river, and just prior to its terminus, State Highway 67 crosses the river outside Mokihinui. In the rugged back country behind Seddonville at the Mōkihinui Forks, the river splits into two branches, north and south. The catchment of these two branches is a large inland basin of almost wholly unmodified forest. The total catchment area of the river is approximately 750 km (290 sq mi), with 685 km (264 sq mi) upstream of Seddonville. The area
5934-422: The strongest growing regional economies of New Zealand in 2022, though from a rather small base. Industries include mining for coal and alluvial gold , forestry and wood processing, fishing (including whitebaiting ), tourism and farming. Dairy farming has grown strongly – the local dairy co-operative Westland Milk Products remained independent when most others merged to form Fonterra in 2001. In
6020-512: The then ECMT, the Taneatua Branch , was also completed. Centralised Traffic Control (CTC) was installed from Taumaranui to Auckland at the same time. In 1946 the last class of steam locomotives built by NZR was introduced, the J class . Due to coal shortages the K , J , K , J classes of steam locomotives were converted from coal to oil burning. Following the war, NZR contracted the Royal New Zealand Air Force from 1947 to ship inter-island freight across Cook's Strait between Paraparaumu in
6106-449: The various provincial railways. Since the Public Works Department was charged with constructing new railway lines (among other public works) the day to day railway operations were transferred into a new government department on the recommendation of a parliamentary select committee. At the time 1,828 kilometres (1,136 miles) of railway lines were open for traffic, 546 km (339 mi) in the North Island and 1,283 km (797 mi) in
6192-604: The war. For the first time, the Department employed significant numbers of women to meet the shortages. The war created serious coal shortages as imported coal was no longer available. Despite this, NZR had record revenues in 1940. Despite the war and associated labour and material shortages, new railway construction continued. In 1942 the Gisborne Line was finally opened, followed by the Main North Line between Picton and Christchurch being completed in 1945. The final section of
6278-558: Was 48.1 years (compared with 38.1 years nationally). There were 5,448 people (16.3%) aged under 15 years, 4,518 (13.5%) aged 15 to 29, 15,861 (47.5%) aged 30 to 64, and 7,563 (22.7%) aged 65 or older. People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 89.7% European ( Pākehā ); 13.5% Māori ; 1.6% Pasifika ; 4.0% Asian ; 0.5% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 4.3% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English
6364-702: Was appointed General Manager in 1933, and worked hard to improve the standard and range of services provided by the Department. This included a number of steps to make passenger trains faster, more efficient and cheaper to run. In the early 20th century, NZR had begun investigating railcar technology to provide passenger services on regional routes and rural branch lines where carriage trains were not economic and "mixed" trains (passenger carriages attached to freight trains) were undesirably slow. However, due to New Zealand's rugged terrain overseas technology could not simply be directly introduced. A number of experimental railcars and railbuses were developed. From 1925 these included
6450-579: Was exempted from the Transport Licensing Act, effectively opening the sector up to competition. The introduction of GMV Aramoana in 1962 heralded the start of inter-island ferry services run by NZR. The service was very successful, leading to criticism, when the Wellington–Lyttelton overnight ferry was withdrawn, that NZR was competing unfairly with private operators. Before the Aramoana
6536-490: Was highly rated for its biodiversity values, but prior to 2019, it was classified as stewardship land − the lowest level of protection for publicly-owned conservation land. Following the cancellation of the proposed Mokihinui Hydro project on the river in 2012, work began to add the catchment area to the adjacent Kahurangi National Park . In 2019, 64,400 ha (159,000 acres) of land in the Mōkihinui River catchment, including 15 km (9.3 mi) of river bed, were added to
6622-480: Was introduced, NZR could not compete for inter-island freight business, and the rail networks of both the North and South Islands were not well integrated. To send goods between the islands, freight had to be unloaded from wagons onto a ship on one island, unloaded at the other and then loaded back into wagons to resume its journey by rail. The introduction of a roll-on roll-off train ferry changed that. Wagons were rolled onto
6708-467: Was not handed over to NZR until 1900. By that time, 3,200 km (2,000 mi) of railway lines were open for traffic. The acquisition in 1908 of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company and its railway line marked the completion of the North Island Main Trunk from Wellington to Auckland. A new locomotive class, the X class , was introduced in 1909 for traffic on the line. The X class was
6794-471: Was opened to service a new pulp and paper mill at its terminus. NZR's first single-purpose log trains, called "express loggers", began to operate on this branch. The Kinleith Branch was shortly followed in 1957 by the 57 kilometres (35 mi) long Murupara Branch , which was opened running through the Bay of Plenty 's Kaingaroa Forest . The branch is the last major branch line to open in New Zealand to date. The line
6880-548: Was primarily built to service the Tasman Pulp and Paper Mill in Kawerau , with several loading points along its length. The line's success led to several Taupo Railway Proposals being put forward, with extensions of the branch being mooted at various times. In 1960 the second Christchurch railway station , at Moorhouse Avenue, was opened. The station was closed in 1990, with a new station being built at Addington. In 1961, livestock
6966-556: Was spoken by 98.0%, Māori language by 2.3%, Samoan by 0.2% and other languages by 5.6%. No language could be spoken by 1.5% (e.g. too young to talk). New Zealand Sign Language was known by 0.5%. The percentage of people born overseas was 13.2, compared with 28.8% nationally. Religious affiliations were 29.8% Christian , 0.6% Hindu , 0.2% Islam , 0.3% Māori religious beliefs , 0.4% Buddhist , 0.7% New Age , 0.1% Jewish , and 1.2% other religions. People who answered that they had no religion were 57.8%, and 9.0% of people did not answer
7052-602: Was still building steam locomotives until 1956, when the last steam locomotive built by NZR, J 1274, was completed at Hillside Workshops , Dunedin . The locomotive is now preserved in Dunedin near the railway station. During the 1950s New Zealand industry was diversifying, particularly into the timber industry. On 6 October 1952 the Kinleith Branch , formerly part of the Taupo Totara Timber Company Railway ,
7138-462: Was subsequently separated from that of the network's construction. From 1895 to 1993 there was a responsible Minister, the Minister of Railways . He was often also the Minister of Public Works. Apart from four brief experiments with independent boards, NZR remained under direct ministerial control for most of its history. Originally, New Zealand's railways were constructed by provincial governments and private firms. The largest provincial operation
7224-467: Was subsequently settled by thousands of Irish Catholics after the Irish Famine , who constitute the majority of the population, alongside the indigenous Kāi Tahu and those who come from admixing between the two populations. The region was also heavily sought after by nuclear weapons states in the 1950s for its abundant resources of uranium , which many West Coasters found objectionable. The West Coast
7310-487: Was that 12,819 (45.9%) people were employed full-time, 4,101 (14.7%) were part-time, and 687 (2.5%) were unemployed. There are only four towns with a population over 1,000: Greymouth , Westport , Hokitika and Runanga . These four towns, plus Reefton (population 980), are recognised as urban areas by Statistics New Zealand. During the gold rush days, Hokitika had a population of more than 25,000 with more than 100 pubs . A recreation of an early New Zealand settlement
7396-545: Was the Canterbury Provincial Railways , which opened the first public railway at Ferrymead on 1 December 1863. During The Vogel Era of the late 1860s to the 1870s, railway construction by central government expanded greatly, from just 80 kilometres (50 miles) in 1869 to 1,900 kilometres (1,200 miles) in 1880. Following the abolition of the provinces in 1877, the Public Works Department took over
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