Category: Main North Line

  • NZ Rail Maps Volumes Site Development 2021-06

    Since our last blog post some three weeks ago, the focus has been on creating various volumes with the intention of these being uploaded on the Volumes site. Work has been going on for Volume 10, as well as parts of Volume 11, the most notable latter example being the maps which have been created…

  • New Zealand Rail Maps Project Development Report [2021C]

    Good day and welcome to our third project development report for 2021. As the text below documents, project progress is being made on the Main North Line maps. The overall project since completing the first stage of the webmaps last month has shifted towards completing maps in various areas so that the webmaps can be…

  • MNL: Wharanui To Ward

    Since the closure has occurred of the Tar Barrel Tunnel (No.21), maps have been produced for the entire section from Wharanui to Ward. These incorporate a number of changes that have taken place in this section relating to: Wharanui, Mirza and Ward stations. Wharanui is now only a crossing station and the other two have…

  • Kiwirail Announces Opening of Tunnel 21 Deviation

    Today, 25 May 2021, Kiwirail has announced the opening of the deviation of the Main North Line at Tunnel 21 (Tar Barrel Tunnel) between Mirza and Wharanui. The part of the Main North Line between these locations was the historical Picton Section built in stages south from Picton between 1875 and 1915, and the railhead…

  • Questions Over Government Rail Freight Strategy [3]

    As noted in our last post the government has effectively given over the incentivisation of mode shift to rail to regional / unitary councils to implement in concert with NZTA. This relies on the assumption that rail freight between industries and ports is a major traffic source and that therefore the regional councils as port…

  • Questions Over Government Rail Freight Strategy [2]

    Last post we took a quick introductory look at issues pertaining especially to the Main North Line which was completely closed to all rail freight for around two years as a result of major earthquake damage, and consequently lost all freight haulage to road. Kiwirail was, and is, majorly hampered in the situation by not…

  • Questions Over Government Rail Freight Strategy [1]

    Unless you live in a cave, you’ll be aware of the many historical challenges Kiwirail and its predecessors have faced in operating a 4000 km network around a country as long and thin as NZ. As a country we have a low population density with our four largest cities each separated by hundreds of kilometres…

  • NZRM Field Testing 2021-02-24

    In the New Zealand Rail Maps project, from time to time field testing is performed of various produced forms of the maps and this has led to some valuable improvements being made into aspects of the project. An example is in 2018, field testing was done with the offline version of the Volume 5 maps…

  • NZRM Update 2021-02-23

    Good morning. As noted last week, the update for this week is the content of Volume 10, which covers the Main North Line and ensures these maps are correct for alignment and placement of location markers and infrastructure. The updates are being generated at present and will be uploaded on the website this afternoon. Last…

  • NZRM Update 2021-02-18

    Good morning. This week’s update is two updates combined, which accounts for it being later than usual. The reason for combining two updates is to allow the rest of this week to be focused on another part of the project whilst continuing to maintain the desired schedule of webmaps generation. As of today the webmaps…