East Coast Main Trunk Railway

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The route network of the East Cost Main Trunk Line and adjacent branch lines.

The East Coast Main Trunk ( ECMT ) or East Coast Main Trunk Line (transfer: East Coast Main Line) is a railway line on the North Island of New Zealand , originally between Hamilton and Taneatua over Tauranga as a connection between the Waikato region and the Bay of Plenty created has been. Today the ECMT runs between Hamilton and Kawerau , with the branch line to Taneatua from the junction at Hawkens.

The tracks of the railway line are designed in the standard gauge of 1,067 mm (3 feet 6 inches) for the New Zealand railroad .

history

Construction and commissioning

In 1880, construction of the North Island Main Trunk Railway from Auckland reached the village of Hamilton. From here the construction of the ECMT began in an easterly direction until the village of Morrinsville was reached in October 1884 , Te Aroha in March 1886 and Paeroa in 1898 . The further construction of the route towards the Bay of Plenty began in 1900 with the first route explorations and later with the construction of the route through the Karangahake Gorge . Three bridges (including a combined road-rail bridge) and a one-kilometer-long tunnel with an average gradient of 1:50 had to be built by the village of Waihi in 1904 and the line between Paeroa and Waihi put into operation in November 1905 could be. The section from Waihi in the direction of Tauranga should be tackled swiftly, the first exploration work began in 1907, but the work did not actually begin until March 1912, but was stopped again in November of the same year. A new attempt began in 1914, but due to extreme labor shortages due to the effects of the First World War , work had to be stopped again in March 1917. The next restart of the work took place in 1918, but the drive through Athenree proceeded very slowly due to the economic framework conditions, so that Tahawai was only reached in 1925. The remaining section of the route via Te Puke and Whakatāne to Taneatua was not fully realized until 1938.

Along the route between Hamilton and Taneatua, further branching routes were created as branch lines to open up further areas and places.

Original target for the railway line

The original intention was to run the route through Opotiki and Waioeka Gorge to Gisborne and connect there to the Palmerston North -Gisborne railway . Work began in the early 1930s, but was not completed due to the impact of two world wars on New Zealand's economy, an economic crisis and a devastating flu epidemic. Difficulties in the negotiations with the Ngāti Porou , an Iwi of the Maori around Gisborne and the East Cape , through whose country the route should run, contributed to the failure of the project.

Route change through the Kaimai tunnel

The course of the route through the winding Karangahake Gorge over the Kaimai Range severely restricted the further expansion of freight traffic between Auckland and the Bay of Plenty region. Therefore, in 1969, both sides began building the Kaimai tunnel through the mountain range. At 8,896 m, the longest railway tunnel in the southern hemisphere (and of course New Zealand too) was built. In 1976 the two tunnel drives were pierced and on September 12, 1978 the new line was put into operation.

Suspension of the northern route and today's use

After the opening of the Kaimai Tunnel, the previous route through the Karangahake Gorge to the eastern branch to the new tunnel was discontinued and dismantled in the 1980s.

The line between Morrinsville and Paeroa has now been assigned to the branch line already existing between Paeroa and Thames until it was also closed in 1991 and operations were officially ceased in 1996/97. However, the line was largely preserved in 2005, only at level crossings the track has already been partially removed.

The railway bridge at Te Aroha is now a footpath over the Waihou River , the former section through the Karangahake Gorge is now used as the Karangahake Gorge Historic Walkway and between Waikino and Waihi today the Goldfield Railway runs through the Athenree Gorge, while the New Zealand Gorge today State Highway 2 uses the former track subgrade.

passenger traffic

Taneatua Express

With the opening of the respective sections of the route, passenger traffic was set up from Hamilton or from Auckland to the temporary end point. When the route was continuously passable to the end point Taneatua, the passenger traffic was run as the Taneatua Express , from Auckland to Taneatua. The original travel time was 12 hours and was later reduced to 10.5 hours with the introduction of more powerful locomotives. Between 1938 and 1959 the traffic was subject to strongly changing schedules, but the trains mostly only ran two or three times a week. The last train of this connection ran on February 7, 1959 and was replaced by a multiple unit, which, however, mostly only ran to Te Puke and provided only minimal traffic to Taneatua. The railway line suffered greatly from the increasing number of private cars, so that on September 11, 1967, these services were also discontinued. Apart from special excursions and special trips, there was no more passenger traffic on the ECMT until 1991.

Kaimai Express

In 1991 the Kaimai Express from Auckland to Tauranga started operating , together with the Geyserland Express, which branched off to Rotorua on the way, the old Silver Fern vehicles were used. The first express started on December 9, 1991 and consisted of a morning connection from Tauranga to Auckland and an evening return connection, which each required 3.5 hours of travel time. The original times were changed in 2000 to better coordinate local traffic in the Waikato region and traffic between Hamilton and Auckland. On October 7, 2001, the connection was discontinued because it was described as too uneconomical for the railway company.

Freight transport

From the beginning, freight was intended to be the main beneficiary of the route for the ECMT. In particular, extensive freight train services were provided to transport the extensive agricultural products from the Bay of Plenty region to Auckland and to supply the region with other products from New Zealand.

The growing freight traffic was also the main reason for the construction of the Kaimai tunnel in 1969, which not only shortened travel times considerably, but also allowed larger train loads to be transported.

The relocation of the original end point of the ECMT from Taneatua to Kawerau particularly served the operational volume on the route after the completion of the paper and pulp mill of the Tasman Pulp and Paper Mill .

literature

  • Churchman, Geoffrey B .; Hurst, Tony: The Railways Of New Zealand - A Journey Through History , HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) (for 1st edition 1990), transpress New Zealand Wellington (2nd edition 2000), ISBN 0-908876-20-3 .

Web links