Railway electrification in New Zealand
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Railway electrification in New Zealand consists of three separate electric systems, all on the North Island. Electrification was initially adopted by the New Zealand Railways for long tunnels; the
Otira Tunnel The Otira Tunnel is a railway tunnel on the Midland Line in the South Island of New Zealand, between Otira and Arthur's Pass. It runs under the Southern Alps from Arthur's Pass to Otira – a length of over . The gradient is mainly 1 in 33, and ...
, the
Lyttelton Rail Tunnel The Lyttelton Rail Tunnel, initially called the Moorhouse Tunnel, links the city of Christchurch with the port of Lyttelton in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It is the country's oldest operational rail tunnel, and is on t ...
and the two Tawa Tunnels of the Tawa Flat Deviation. Electrification of Wellington suburban services started with the
Johnsonville Line 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 ...
and Kapiti Line out of Wellington from the 1930s. Auckland suburban services were electrified in 2014–2015. Electrification of long-distance services on the
North Island Main Trunk The North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) is the main railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, connecting the capital city Wellington with the country's largest city, Auckland. The line is long, built to the New Zealand rail gauge of and ser ...
(NIMT) dates from 1986. New long tunnels, for example the
Rimutaka Tunnel The Remutaka Tunnel (spelled Rimutaka Tunnel before 2017) is a railway tunnel through New Zealand's Remutaka Range, between Maymorn, near Upper Hutt, and Featherston, on the Wairarapa Line. The tunnel, which was opened to traffic on 3 November ...
and the Kaimai Tunnel, were operated by diesels, and the Otira and Lyttelton Tunnels have converted to diesel operation. From 1908 to 1953, there was an electrified mine railway from the
Stockton mine Stockton Mine, on the Stockton Coal Field, is New Zealand's largest opencast mining operation. The entrance to the mine is at the former settlement of Stockton. Extent The coal field is situated between 5 and 10 kilometres linear distance s ...
on the
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...
of the
South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...
. Earlier NZR electrified routes from 1923 to the 1940s operated at , but the NIMT (1986) and Auckland suburban services (from 2014) use ; all with overhead catenary supply. The use of 16 kV 16.7 Hz AC for the NIMT was proposed in 1950.


History


Stockton mine railway

The
Stockton mine Stockton Mine, on the Stockton Coal Field, is New Zealand's largest opencast mining operation. The entrance to the mine is at the former settlement of Stockton. Extent The coal field is situated between 5 and 10 kilometres linear distance s ...
railway was, in 1908, New Zealand's first electric railway. It carried coal from the Westport-Stockton Coal Companies mine to the NZR railhead at Ngakawau on the
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...
of the South Island from 1908 to 1953, when it was replaced by an aerial cableway. The line was long, with in two long tunnels. The system used 275 V DC from a low overhead line via trolley poles, and gauge track. The seven locos were of low built "mine" type.


Otira and Lyttelton Tunnels

The first NZR line to be electrified in New Zealand was the
Otira Tunnel The Otira Tunnel is a railway tunnel on the Midland Line in the South Island of New Zealand, between Otira and Arthur's Pass. It runs under the Southern Alps from Arthur's Pass to Otira – a length of over . The gradient is mainly 1 in 33, and ...
in 1923. This long tunnel () with a steep gradient (1 in 33) could not have been worked by steam. In 1916, there was consideration of electrification of the entire section with steep grades from Jackson (West Coast) to Springfield (Canterbury), but in 1923, just the Otira-Arthur's Pass section () was electrified. In 1929, the
Lyttelton Line Lyttelton Line is a name sometimes used to refer to the section of the Main South Line in New Zealand's South Island between Lyttelton and Christchurch, and can also be used to refer to the operations on this section. As it has always been par ...
through the
Lyttelton Rail Tunnel The Lyttelton Rail Tunnel, initially called the Moorhouse Tunnel, links the city of Christchurch with the port of Lyttelton in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It is the country's oldest operational rail tunnel, and is on t ...
was electrified. This tunnel (opened in 1867) was short and had a lesser gradient than the Otira (0.3%) but replacement of steam operation was desirable. Electrification of this and other lines was being studied by the Public Works Department as early as 1911.


The Merz & McLellan Report

The 1925 report by the English consulting firm of Merz & McLellan was commissioned by the Minister of Railways Gordon Coates to investigate electrification of suburban services in the four main centres of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. For Christchurch it recommended electrification of the Lyttelton Line but not the main lines north and south. Now only Auckland and Wellington have suburban passenger services. The firm's partner Charles Merz of Newcastle upon Tyne had reported on Melbourne suburban electrification in 1908 and 1912.


Wellington electrification

Several Wellington lines were then electrified: in 1938, the
Johnsonville Line 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 ...
; and from 1940, the Kapiti Line section of the NIMT north of Wellington to Paekakariki through the two Tawa Tunnels which were part of the Tawa Flat Deviation. This line also had steep gradients (1 in 57) on the bank from Paremata up to Pukerua Bay. In February 1946, it was decided to electrify the remaining Wellington suburban lines to the Hutt Valley as there was a shortage of coal for locomotives, and also to replace commuter steam trains with EMUs, as the Hutt Valley was now largely residential with new state housing replacing market gardens. When the extra EMUs arrived in 1949, they were initially used for the Kapiti Line to Paekakariki while the Hutt Valley lines to Upper Hutt and Melling were electrified. So in the Hutt Valley, EMUs were supplemented in peak periods by older carriages hauled by electric locomotives until they were replaced by the Ganz-Mavag EMUs from 1986. The Johnsonville and Melling lines were short branch lines which were originally part of the main line (NIMT) north and the Hutt Valley line to the Wairarapa, until the lines were replaced by deviations. The sections of these lines that were retained were mainly used for suburban commuter services, with initially some stock traffic to Johnsonville (later to Raroa).


Dieselisation

For two new long tunnels, diesel operation was more economic than a short electrified section; the
Rimutaka Tunnel The Remutaka Tunnel (spelled Rimutaka Tunnel before 2017) is a railway tunnel through New Zealand's Remutaka Range, between Maymorn, near Upper Hutt, and Featherston, on the Wairarapa Line. The tunnel, which was opened to traffic on 3 November ...
(1955) and the Kaimai Tunnel (1978). The Rimutaka Tunnel required an intermediate ventilation shaft. From 1967, diesel locomotives ( DA class) replaced electric locomotives ( EW class) on freight trains south of Paekakariki on the Kapiti Line after the track in some older tunnels on the
North–South Junction The North–South Junction is a section of single-track rail line about 7 km long, north of Wellington, New Zealand between the closed (2011) Muri railway station (north of Pukerua Bay railway station) and the (lower) Paekakariki railway st ...
were lowered, so diesels could run under the catenary into Wellington. On two existing electrified tunnels, the electrified section was only a small part of the total line. Hence, the
Lyttelton Rail Tunnel The Lyttelton Rail Tunnel, initially called the Moorhouse Tunnel, links the city of Christchurch with the port of Lyttelton in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It is the country's oldest operational rail tunnel, and is on t ...
was operated by diesel locomotives from 19 September 1970. The
Otira Tunnel The Otira Tunnel is a railway tunnel on the Midland Line in the South Island of New Zealand, between Otira and Arthur's Pass. It runs under the Southern Alps from Arthur's Pass to Otira – a length of over . The gradient is mainly 1 in 33, and ...
was long and steep, so for dieselisation from 1997, a door and special ventilation fans were fitted (electrification of the whole Springfield to Jackson section with its steep gradients had been considered in 1916 and in the 1950s; possibly using 50 Hz AC instead of DC).


Electrification of the NIMT

In 1950, electrification of the entire
North Island Main Trunk The North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) is the main railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, connecting the capital city Wellington with the country's largest city, Auckland. The line is long, built to the New Zealand rail gauge of and ser ...
(NIMT) from Auckland to Paekakariki (the terminus of the Wellington electrification) was proposed by the General Manager
Frank Aickin Francis William (Frank) Aickin (7 July 1894 – 23 July 1982) was the General Manager of New Zealand Railways from 1948 to 1951. He was born in Onehunga in 1894, where his father Thomas Aickin was the stationmaster. He was in the NZEF in World ...
; the system comprised 657 route miles or of track. Operation at 16 kV 16.7 Hz AC was proposed, so would have been similar to the systems in Austria, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and Norway; although it has been superseded by or for new systems; The NIMT represented only 12% of the network length, but carried 40% of the system tonnage (13% more than the total South Island tonnage). A hundred Bo-Bo locomotives would be required, and in Auckland, there would be suburban electric services to Henderson west of Auckland and to Papakura south of Auckland. A report by two Swedish engineers (Thelander and Edenius) was also obtained. Their report said electrification was ''a matter of necessity'' and estimated greater capital cost saving with AC electrification instead of DC (1500 V; or 3000 V as proposed by
English Electric N.º UIC: 9094 110 1449-3 (Takargo Rail) The English Electric Company Limited (EE) was a British industrial manufacturer formed after the Armistice of 11 November 1918, armistice of World War I by amalgamating five businesses which, during th ...
) than Aickin had allowed for. But the proposal was dropped in favour of dieselisation, with the first mainline DF class diesel locomotives arriving in 1954. In 1974, a study was undertaken to consider the looming problem of "traffic saturation" on the mountainous central section, particularly the Raurimu Spiral. In 1975, the study recommended electrification using ; but with a decline in traffic the proposal was dropped. In the late 1970s with the ''"oil shocks"'' of 1973 and 1979, the Third National Government embarked on several projects to reduce dependence on imported oil. Electrification of the centre section of the NIMT was one of the Think Big projects. The project was approved in December 1981; specifications were prepared in 1982 and tenders let in 1982–83. Other works improved the line by easing curves and gradients and replacing signalling. Work started in late 1984 and was completed in 1988 though on the 24 June rather than March as planned, with an official train traversing the whole section. Brush Traction supplied 22 EF class locomotives; the design was scaled up to the Eurotunnel Class 9 locomotives supplied by Brush for the Channel Tunnel. In December 2016, KiwiRail announced that it proposed to dieselise this section of the NIMT due to the age of the present electric locomotives and the cost and time delays in changing locomotives at each end of the electrified section at
Te Rapa Te Rapa is a mixed light industrial, large-scale retail and semi-rural suburb to the northwest of central Hamilton, New Zealand that is built on a flat area that was previously the bed of an ancient river, the forerunner to the present Waikato ...
and Palmerston North. The decision was reversed in 2018.


Electrification of the Auckland suburban network

The extensive suburban rail network around Auckland which had been operated by steam locomotives and then by diesel locomotives and railcars was electrified using between April 2014 and July 2015. Electrification goes south to Papakura, and there are no immediate plans to extend further south on the NIMT to Pukekohe or as far as Hamilton (the Waikato Connection and earlier Auckland-Hamilton passenger services have not succeeded). In 2020, the government announced funding to extend electrification from Papakura to Pukekohe. In 2021, New Zealand rail operator KiwiRail secured independent panel approval of the resource consents for the main works related to its electrification project in South Auckland. The sanction for the electrification of the rail line between Papakura and Pukekohe has been given as per the COVID-19 fast-track legislation.


Existing systems


Auckland metro

All electrified lines in the Auckland metro area uses the 25 kV 50 Hz AC system. The system is fed from Transpower's 220 kV grid at two locations: Penrose and Southdown


North Island Main Trunk

The North Island Main Trunk uses 25 kV 50 Hz AC. The system used is a 25-0-25 kV auto-transformer system, with autotransformers spaced along the line interconnecting the "positive" 25 kV contact line, earth, and the "negative" 25 kV feeder line. The system is fed at four traction substations, taking power from Transpower's 220 kV national grid.


Wellington metro

All electrified lines in the Wellington metro area use the 1500 V DC system. *
Johnsonville Line 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 ...
: completed 2 June 1938. * Kapiti Line: Wellington Station to Paekakariki completed 1940; extended to Paraparaumu March 1983; extended to
Waikanae Waikanae (, ) is a town on the Kapiti Coast, 60 kilometres north of the Wellington CBD. The name is a Māori word meaning "waters" (''wai'') "of the grey mullet". The town lies between Paraparaumu, eight kilometres to the southwest, and Ōtak ...
20 February 2011. *
Hutt Valley Line The Hutt Valley Line is the electrified train service operated by Transdev Wellington on behalf of Metlink on the section of the Wairarapa Line railway between Wellington and Upper Hutt, New Zealand. History Construction The Hutt Valley lin ...
: Wellington Distant Junction to
Taita Taita may refer to: * Taita people, a Bantu ethnic group in Kenya * Taita language, a Bantu language *Taitā, New Zealand, a suburb of Lower Hutt City * Taita Hills, a mountain range in Kenya * Taita Cushitic languages, an extinct pair of Afro-Asi ...
completed 14 September 1953; extended to Upper Hutt 24 July 1955 *
Melling Line Melling may refer to: Places * Melling, Merseyside, an area of Sefton, Merseyside, England * Melling, Lancashire, a village near Carnforth, Lancashire, England * Melling, New Zealand, a suburb of Lower Hutt, New Zealand ** Melling Branch, a railw ...
: Hutt Valley Junction to Lower Hutt (Western Hutt) completed 23 September 1953; extended to Melling 1 March 1954. The Wellington metro system is fed by 18 traction substations, taking power from
Wellington Electricity Wellington Electricity, registered as Wellington Electricity Lines Limited, is an electricity distribution company, based in Wellington, New Zealand. Wellington Electricity supplies electricity to approximately 400,000 consumers through over 1 ...
's (Wellington metro) or Electra's (Kapiti Coast) 11 kV distribution networks. There are also a number of cross-tie substations, which do not feed electricity into the lines but perform switching functions.


Future

In 2008, a paper was produced by former New Zealand Rail senior managers Murray King and
Francis Small Francis Small (October 6, 1625 – ca. 1714) was a British-born Colonial American trader and landowner who resided primarily in Kittery, Maine. He made the first recorded land purchase in what is now the state of Maine, then part of Massachuset ...
, on the extension of the NIMT 25 kV electrification from Te Rapa to Papakura and Hamilton to Tauranga. The report put the total cost of electrification at $860 million, with $433 million for the Papakura-Te Rapa section. It concluded that money would be better spent on grade and curvature easements, removing speed restrictions and increasing the length of passing loops. In 2012,
Auckland Council Auckland Council ( mi, Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau) is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is ...
commissioned a report into electrifying the railway from
Papakura Papakura is a southern suburb of Auckland, in northern New Zealand. It is located on the shores of the Pahurehure Inlet, approximately 32 kilometres south of the Auckland CBD. It is under the authority of the Auckland Council. Papakura is a M ...
to Pukekohe. The project would be undertaken from 2021 to 2040. The Labour Party and National Party both expressed support for the project during the
2017 general election This national electoral calendar for 2017 lists the national/federal elections held in 2017 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 November  ...
. The April 2018 Auckland Transport Alignment Project report recommended this project as a priority for the coming decade. Work on this extension of Auckland's electrified railway network began in 2021, with enabling works taking place the year prior. Funding for this project came from the New Zealand Upgrade Programme, and completion is due in late 2024. The
2023 New Zealand budget Budget 2023, titled "Support for today, Building for tomorrow", is the New Zealand budget for fiscal year 2023/24 presented to the House of Representatives by Finance Minister, Grant Robertson, on 18 May 2023 as the fifth budget presented by the ...
set aside $369.2 million for 4 years between 2023 and 2026 for the Rail Network Improvement Programme, which included funding for a detailed business case for the electrification of the
North Island Main Trunk The North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) is the main railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, connecting the capital city Wellington with the country's largest city, Auckland. The line is long, built to the New Zealand rail gauge of and ser ...
.


References


Citation


Bibliography

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