The Mount Maunganui branch is a short industrial branch line in

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, servicing the eastern side of the

Port of Tauranga The Port of Tauranga is situated in Tauranga, New Zealand. It is the largest port in the country both in terms of total cargo volume, and in terms of container throughput with container volumes exceeding 1.2 million TEUs (Twenty Foot Equival ...

. It branches from the

East Coast Main Trunk The East Coast Main Trunk (ECMT) is a railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, originally running between Hamilton and Taneatua via Tauranga, connecting the Waikato with the Bay of Plenty. The ECMT now runs between Hamilton and Kawera ...

at a triangle junction outside

Baypark Stadium Trustpower Baypark Stadium (formerly known as ASB Baypark Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand. It is currently used for dirt track Speedway and jetsprints events during summer, and various other events throughou ...

before running north-west through

Mount Maunganui Mount Maunganui (, ) is a major residential, commercial and industrial suburb of the Tauranga metropolitan area, located on a peninsula to the north-east of Tauranga's city centre. It was an independent town from Tauranga until the completio ...

to the port complex. A number of services use the branch daily. Its primary traffic is bulk products - export timber and some timber products from local forests and the Kinlieth and Tasman mills; and coal destined for the

Huntly power station The Huntly Power Station is the largest thermal power station in New Zealand and is located in the town of Huntly in the Waikato. It is operated by Genesis Energy Limited, a publicly listed company (currently 51% owned by the NZ Government). Th ...

and the

New Zealand Steel New Zealand Steel Limited is the owner of the Glenbrook Steel Mill, the steel mill located 40 kilometres south of Auckland, in Glenbrook, New Zealand. The mill was constructed in 1968 and began producing steel products in 1969. Currently, the ...

mill at Glenbrook. It is also used for shunts to and from the container handling facilities of the Port of Tauranga, which are located at Sulphur Point on the other side of Tauranga Harbour. With 21 freight trains per day the line was estimated (1990) as the fifth busiest line in New Zealand.

History

By 1910 the Mount Maunganui wharf was used by the

Public Works Department This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

(PWD) with workshops for railway construction material in the area, so was not handed over to the NZR until 1924. With the Great Depression the PWD workshop was closed about 1930, and the branch had no regular traffic from 1934. In 1942 because of a shortage of track material the track was lifted and relaid to the nearby RNZAF base (now

Tauranga Airport Tauranga Airport is an airport serving the city of Tauranga, New Zealand. It is located adjacent to Tauranga Harbour in the suburb of Mount Maunganui, approximately 3 km northeast of Tauranga CBD. The terminal is located to the north o ...

). With the establishment of the Kawerau Branch the port was to be used for exporting paper and timber. The line was relaid with heavy rails and reopened on 28 March 1955. In the 1950s a large marshalling yard was built at Mount Maunganui and extended in the 1960s and 1970s. A new marshalling yard had been built at Te Maunga the junction with the

(ECMT), but more recently most trains run into Mount Maunganui and the line is operated as part of the ECMT. The Frankton Junction picnic train for Railways staff from

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

to Mount Maunganui used to be ''a very significant event''. In the 1970s and 1980s there was consideration to a combined road and rail bridge across the Tauranga Harbour to shorten the distance from Tauranga to the port, but as a low-level bridge would affect shipping a high-level bridge was built; the steep approach grades precluded its use by rail. There was local pressure in the 1970s to reroute the branch line, and before the 1972 general election Sir

Basil Arthur Sir Basil Malcolm Arthur, 5th Baronet (18 September 1928 – 1 May 1985) served as Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 1984 to 1985. He was a member of the Labour Party. Biography Early life and career Arthur was born in Ti ...

the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

spokesman on transport had promised to reroute the line if Labour was elected. But the deviation did not proceed. It would have cost $3 million (1974), with extra operating costs of $3000 per year. The new route would have required sharp curves and a level crossing. In 2016, the junction with the East Coast Main Trunk was relocated westward and the line diverted west of Owens Place. The diversion was to allow room for State Highway 2 to be widened and grade separated between Bayfair and Baypark.

History

See Also

References

Further reading