1.
Main Southern railway line, New South Wales
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The Main Southern Railway is a major railway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs through the Southern Highlands, Southern Tablelands, South West Slopes, the Main Southern Railway commences as an electrified pair of tracks in the Sydney metropolitan area. Originally the line branched from the Main Suburban railway line at Granville, passing through Fairfield, however this section was later bypassed with a more direct route from Lidcombe via Regents Park to Cabramatta. The former route through Fairfield became known as the Old Main South, from Liverpool, the line heads into Campbelltown and Macarthur, the current limit of electrification and suburban passenger services. The electrification previously extended to Glenlee colliery, but this was removed following the cessation of electric haulage of trains in the 1990s. The line continues as a double non-electrified track south through the Southern Highlands towns of Mittagong, here the line becomes single track for the remainder of its journey south to the state border with Victoria at Albury. The North East railway line continues through northern Victoria to Melbourne. The line north of Macarthur is maintained by RailCorp, South of Macarthur the line is leased to the Australian Rail Track Corporation until 2064. On 26 September 1855 the first railway in New South Wales, exactly a year later, a branch was opened from what was known as Parramatta Junction to Liverpool. The Murrumbidgee River Railway Bridge was completed in 1881 and the line was extended to Wagga Wagga, Uranquinty, The Rock, Henty, Victorian Railways North East 1,600 mm gauge line was extended from Wodonga to Albury station in 1883. To accommodate the break of gauge, a long railway platform was built. The original alignment was built under the supervision of John Whitton, the original single track was duplicated from Granville to Liverpool in 1857, to Campbelltown in 1891, to Picton in 1892. Between 1913 and 1922 the 343 km section from Picton to Cootamundra was duplicated, other sections of the original Whitton alignment between Goulburn and Wagga Wagga were also replaced by more curvy sections with lower grades. The section from Cootamundra to Junee, including a spiral at Bethungra, was duplicated between 1941 and 1945. Construction of a standard gauge track parallel with the broad gauge track from Albury to Melbourne commenced in 1959, the first freight train operated on the line on 3 January 1962, followed by the first passenger train on 16 April 1962. The original wrought iron Murrumbidgee River Railway Bridge at Wagga Wagga was replaced in 2007 by a new concrete, the main line south of Junee was substantially upgraded in 2007 and 2008, including the construction of passing loops up to 7 kilometres. Redbank Tunnel near Tahmoor closed on 30 November 2012 when replaced by a deviation funded by Xstrata to allow expansion of its Tahmoor Colliery under the tunnel which was sealed. In January 2013 the Australian Rail Track Corporation opened the Southern Sydney Freight Line between Sefton and Macarthur as a line for freight services
2.
KiwiRail
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KiwiRail Holdings Limited is a New Zealand State-owned enterprise responsible for rail operations, which trades as KiwiRail. Headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand, KiwiRail is the largest rail operator in New Zealand. Since July 2010 John Spencer has been the chairman, KiwiRail Freight, KiwiRail Scenic Journeys and the Interisland Line are all subsidiaries of KiwiRail. KiwiRail was created from a number of entities that date back to the 19th century, prior to KiwiRail, rail transport in New Zealand has been under both public and private ownership. Government operators included the Public Works Department, New Zealand Railways Department, New Zealand Rail Limited was split off from the Railways Corporation in 1990, privatised in 1993 and then renamed in 1995 to Tranz Rail. After several years of negotiations the two parties could not come to an agreement on the amount that Toll should pay for access to the rail network, in July 2008, the government announced the purchase of Toll Rail from Toll, renaming it KiwiRail. Toll retained ownership of its trucking operation, for 13 years during private ownership, infrastructure investment outside of Wellington dropped to an average of just over $25m a year. Since then it has ranged between $100 and $200m a year, in the 2010 New Zealand budget KiwiRail received a capital injection of $250 million, and a further $500 million in principle to make it sustainable within a decade. The $4.6 billion would come from business itself, the plan aims to increase rail traffic volumes and revenue, increase productivity, modernise assets and separate out the commercial elements of the business from the non-commercial. Currently, a freight train journey between Auckland and Wellington takes thirteen and a half hours – similar to transit times in the late 1970s. A truck on the route takes nine hours. KiwiRail aims to reduce times to 11 hours. Enabling investment, Improved IT systems and processes, equipment and facilities at terminals Forty new locomotives and 3,000 new wagons. Improved track infrastructure The minor lines, KiwiRail will review business on, North Auckland Line Stratford - Okahukura Line Napier – Gisborne Line and North Wairarapa line. As a result, the Tranz Metro assets were transferred to the Greater Wellington Regional Council, two of KiwiRails major customers, Mainfreight and Fonterra, have invested heavily in rail-related infrastructure. Mainfreight has allocated $60 million for investment in new railhead depots, while Fonterra has invested $130 million in a new rail hub complex in Hamilton and another in Mosgiel. In 2013, company Chairman John Spencer stated that over the last three years of the plan, rail freight revenue has increased by over 25%, KiwiRails South Island operations were disrupted by the 2010 Canterbury earthquake, but KiwiRail also participated in disaster relief efforts. Their operations were again disrupted by the 2011 Canterbury earthquake, resulting in the cancellation of the TranzAlpine
3.
Rail freight transport
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Rail freight transport is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers. Trains may haul bulk material, intermodal containers, general freight or specialized freight in purpose-designed cars, Rail freight practices and economics vary by country and region. When considered in terms of ton-miles or tonne-kilometers hauled per unit of energy consumed, maximum economies are typically realized with bulk commodities, especially when hauled over long distances. However, shipment by rail is not as flexible as by highway, moving goods by rail often involves transshipment costs, particularly when the shipper or receiver lack direct rail access. These costs may exceed that of operating the train itself, a factor that practices such as containerization aim to minimize. Traditionally, large shippers build factories and warehouses near rail lines and have a section of track on their property called a siding where goods are loaded onto or unloaded from rail cars, other shippers have their goods hauled by wagon or truck to or from a goods station. When long enough, or based on a schedule, each long distance train is dispatched to another classification yard. At the next classification yard, cars are resorted and those that are destined for stations served by that yard are assigned to local trains for delivery. Others are reassembled into trains heading to classification yards closer to their final destination, a single car might be reclassified or switched in several yards before reaching its final destination, a process that made rail freight slow and increased costs. Many freight rail operators are trying to reduce costs by reducing or eliminating switching in classification yards through techniques such as unit trains. In many countries, railroads have been built to haul one commodity, such as coal or ore, Rail freight uses many types of goods wagon or freight car. Most coal and aggregates are moved in wagons or gondolas or open wagons that can be filled and discharged rapidly. A major disadvantage of rail freight is its lack of flexibility, in part for this reason, rail has lost much of the freight business to road transport. Many governments are now trying to encourage more freight trains, because of the environmental benefits that it would bring. Compared tо road transport whісh employs thе uѕе оf trucks, rail transportation ensures thаt goods thаt соuld оthеrwіѕе bе transported оn а number оf trucks аrе transported іn а single shipment, thіѕ saves а lot аѕ fаr аѕ cost connected tо thе transportation аrе concerned. In Europe many manufacturing towns developed before the railway, many factories did not have direct rail access. This meant that freight had to be shipped through a station, sent by train. When lorries replaced horses it was economic and faster to make one movement by road
4.
South Island
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The South Island or Te Waipounamu is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, 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 Sea, the South Island covers 150,437 square kilometres and has a temperate climate. In the early stages of European settlement of the country, the South Island had the majority of the European population, in prose, the two main islands of New Zealand are called the North Island and the South Island, with the definite article. Charcoal drawings can be found on rock shelters in the centre of the South Island. The drawings are estimated to be between 500 and 800 years old, and portray animals, people and fantastic creatures, possibly stylised reptiles, some of the birds pictured are long extinct, including moa and Haasts eagles. They were drawn by early Māori, but by the time Europeans arrived, early inhabitants of the South Island were the Waitaha. They were largely absorbed via marriage and conquest by the Kāti Mamoe in the 16th century, Kāti Mamoe were in turn largely absorbed via marriage and conquest by the Kāi Tahu who migrated south in the 17th century. While today there is no distinct Kāti Mamoe organisation, many Kāi Tahu have Kāti Mamoe links in their whakapapa and, a notable feature of the Moriori culture, an emphasis on pacifism, proved disadvantageous when Māori warriors arrived in the 1830s aboard a chartered European ship. In the early 18th century, Kāi Tahu, a Māori tribe who originated on the east coast of the North Island, There they and Kāti Mamoe fought Ngāi Tara and Rangitāne in the Wairau Valley. Ngāti Māmoe then ceded the east coast regions north of the Clarence River to Kāi Tahu, Kāi Tahu continued to push south, conquering Kaikoura. By the 1730s, Kāi Tahu had settled in Canterbury, including Banks Peninsula, from there they spread further south and into the West Coast. In 1827-1828 Ngāti Toa under the leadership of Te Rauparaha successfully attacked Kāi Tahu at Kaikoura, Ngāti Toa then visited Kaiapoi, ostensibly to trade. When they attacked their hosts, the well-prepared Kāi Tahu killed all the leading Ngāti Toa chiefs except Te Rauparaha, Te Rauparaha returned to his Kapiti Island stronghold. After destroying Te Maiharanuis village they took their captives to Kapiti, John Stewart, though arrested and sent to trial in Sydney as an accomplice to murder, nevertheless escaped conviction. In the summer of 1831–32 Te Rauparaha attacked the Kaiapoi pā, Kaiapoi was engaged in a three-month siege by Te Rauparaha, during which his men successfully sapped the pā. They then attacked Kāi Tahu on Banks Peninsula and took the pā at Onawe, in 1832-33 Kāi Tahu retaliated under the leadership of Tūhawaiki and others, attacking Ngāti Toa at Lake Grassmere. Kāi Tahu prevailed, and killed many Ngāti Toa, although Te Rauparaha again escaped, fighting continued for a year or so, with Kāi Tahu maintaining the upper hand. Ngāti Toa never again made an incursion into Kāi Tahu territory
5.
New Zealand
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New Zealand /njuːˈziːlənd/ is an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu—and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, the countrys varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealands capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland, sometime between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand, in 1840, representatives of Britain and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire, today, the majority of New Zealands population of 4.7 million is of European descent, the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealands culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life. Since the 1980s, New Zealand has transformed from an agrarian, Queen Elizabeth II is the countrys head of state and is represented by a governor-general. In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes, the Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau, the Cook Islands and Niue, and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealands territorial claim in Antarctica. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, in 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand, Aotearoa is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the country before the arrival of Europeans. Māori had several names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui for the North Island and Te Waipounamu or Te Waka o Aoraki for the South Island. Early European maps labelled the islands North, Middle and South, in 1830, maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907, this was the accepted norm. The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised and this set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, and South Island or Te Waipounamu
6.
Lyttelton, New Zealand
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Lyttelton is a port town on the north shore of Lyttelton Harbour, at the north-western end of Banks Peninsula and close to Christchurch, on the eastern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Due to its establishment as a point for Christchurch-bound seafarers. The port remains a destination for cruise liners and is the South Islands principal goods transport terminal, handling 34% of exports. According to the 2013 census, the resident population of Lyttelton, including neighbouring communities of Rapaki, Cass Bay. Lyttelton is the largest settlement on Lyttelton Harbour, an inlet on the side of Banks Peninsula extending 18 km inland from the southern end of Pegasus Bay. The town is situated on the slopes of the Port Hills. This steep-sided crater rim acts as an amphitheatre and a boundary to urban development. A tunnel through the Port Hills provides direct access to Christchurch,12 km to the north-west. The town of Sumner, some 6 km to the north-east, is accessed via Evans Pass, another settlement at Governors Bay lies 10 km to the west and a ferry service connects the suburb of Diamond Harbour on the southern shore of the harbour. The uninhabited Quail Island sits in the upper harbour southwest of Lyttelton, a home for Māori for about 700 years, Lyttelton Harbour was discovered by European voyagers passing by on 16 February 1770 during the Endeavours first voyage to New Zealand. Aiming to establish a Church of England colony in New Zealand, as Lyttelton was a harbour, and had a large amount of flat land suitable for farming and development nearby, it was ideal for a colony. Joseph Thomas as the agent of the Canterbury Association and its chief surveyor was in charge of preparing the settlement for the settlers and he initially placed the port town at Rapaki and the settlements capital, Christchurch, and the head of the harbour at present-day Teddington. Early survey work in Lyttelton was done by Thomas and Charles Torlesse, if I agreed with him that it did, I put the name to one of the streets requiring baptism. This accounts for, what to anyone not knowing the circumstances, appears strange, viz, in August 1849 it was officially proclaimed a port. Pilgrims Rock shows the place where European settlers first set foot in the harbour, the present location of the rock is well inland from the sea, as much of Lytteltons dockside has been reclaimed from the harbour waters in recent years. Lyttelton was formerly called Port Cooper and Port Victoria and it was the original settlement in the district. The name Lyttelton was given to it in honour of George William Lyttelton of the Canterbury Association, on 1 July 1862, the first telegraph transmission in New Zealand was made from Lyttelton Post Office. In 1870, fire destroyed all the buildings in Norwich Quay
7.
Invercargill
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Invercargill is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the centre of the Southland region. It lies in the heart of the expanse of the Southland Plains on the Oreti or New River some 18 km north of Bluff. Many streets in the city, especially in the centre and main shopping district, are named after rivers in Great Britain, mainly Scotland. These include the main streets Dee and Tay, as well as named after the Forth, Tyne, Esk, Don, Thames, Mersey, Ness, Yarrow, Spey. The 2013 census showed the population was 51,696, up 2. 7% on the 2006 census number, Southland was a scene of early extended contact between Europeans and Maori, notably whalers and missionaries – Wohlers at Ruapuke. In 1853, Walter Mantell purchased Murihiku from local Maori iwi, Otago, of which Southland was itself part, was the subject of planned settlement by the Free Church, an offshoot of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Settlement broadened with the discovery of gold in Central Otago in the 1860s, today, traces of Scottish speech persist in Southland voices, with R often pronounced with a rolling burr. This is more noticeable among country people, in 1856, a petition was put forward to Thomas Gore Browne, the Governor of New Zealand, for a port at Bluff. Due to the Otago gold rush, the population grew during the 1860s with the settlement of Bluff. Browne agreed to the petition and gave the name Invercargill to the settlement north of the port, the settlements chief surveyor was John Turnbull Thomson, a British civil engineer. Under the influence of James Menzies, Southland Province seceded from Otago in 1861 following the escalation of political tensions, however, rising debt forced Southland to rejoin Otago in 1870 and the provincial system, and with it the province of Otago, was abolished entirely in 1876. This debt was caused by a population decline stemming from poor returns from pastoral farming, in 1874, Invercargills population was less than 2,500 which reflected the drift north to large centres. In the 1880s, the development of an industry based on butter. In December 1905, Invercargill voted in local prohibition of alcohol sales and this lasted for 40 years until voted out by returning servicemen in the Second World War. When prohibition ended, a committee of citizens persuaded the Government to give the monopoly on sales in Invercargill to the specially formed Invercargill Licensing Trust. Based on a scheme in Carlisle, England, it returns profits to city amenities, even today, alcohol is not sold in supermarkets. In recent years, publicity has been brought to the city by the election of Tim Shadbolt
8.
Track gauge
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In rail transport, track gauge is the spacing of the rails on a railway track and is measured between the inner faces of the load-bearing rails. All vehicles on a network must have running gear that is compatible with the track gauge, as the dominant parameter determining interoperability, it is still frequently used as a descriptor of a route or network. There is a distinction between the gauge and actual gauge at some locality, due to divergence of track components from the nominal. Railway engineers use a device, like a caliper, to measure the actual gauge, the nominal track gauge is the distance between the inner faces of the rails. In current practice, it is specified at a distance below the rail head as the inner faces of the rail head are not necessarily vertical. In some cases in the earliest days of railways, the company saw itself as an infrastructure provider only. Colloquially the wagons might be referred to as four-foot gauge wagons, say and this nominal value does not equate to the flange spacing, as some freedom is allowed for. An infrastructure manager might specify new or replacement track components at a variation from the nominal gauge for pragmatic reasons. Track is defined in old Imperial units or in universally accepted metric units or SI units, Imperial units were established in United Kingdom by The Weights and Measures Act of 1824. In addition, there are constraints, such as the load-carrying capacity of axles. Narrow gauge railways usually cost less to build because they are lighter in construction, using smaller cars and locomotives, as well as smaller bridges, smaller tunnels. Narrow gauge is often used in mountainous terrain, where the savings in civil engineering work can be substantial. Broader gauge railways are generally expensive to build and require wider curves. There is no single perfect gauge, because different environments and economic considerations come into play, a narrow gauge is superior if ones main considerations are economy and tight curvature. For direct, unimpeded routes with high traffic, a broad gauge may be preferable, the Standard, Russian, and 46 gauges are designed to strike a reasonable balance between these factors. In addition to the general trade-off, another important factor is standardization, once a standard has been chosen, and equipment, infrastructure, and training calibrated to that standard, conversion becomes difficult and expensive. This also makes it easier to adopt an existing standard than to invent a new one and this is true of many technologies, including railroad gauges. The reduced cost, greater efficiency, and greater economic opportunity offered by the use of a common standard explains why a number of gauges predominate worldwide
9.
3 ft 6 in gauge railways
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Railways with a track gauge of 3 ft 6 in/1,067 mm were first constructed as horse-drawn wagonways. From the mid-nineteenth century, the 3 ft 6 in gauge became widespread in the British Empire, there are approximately 112,000 kilometres of 1,067 mm gauge track in the world. 1795 One of the first railways to use 3 ft 6 in gauge was the Little Eaton Gangway in England, other 3 ft 6 in gauge wagonways in England and Wales were also built in the early nineteenth century. 1862 In 1862 the Norwegian engineer Carl Abraham Pihl constructed the first 3 ft 6 in gauge railway in Norway,1865 In 1865 the Queensland Railways were constructed. Its 3 ft 6 in gauge was promoted by the Irish engineer Abraham Fitzgibbon,1868 In 1868 Charles Fox asks civil engineer Edmund Wragge to survey a 3 ft 6 in railway in Costa Rica. 1871 In 1871 the Canadian Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway,1872 In January 1872 Robert Fairlie advocated the use of 3 ft 6 in gauge in his book Railways Or No Railways, Narrow Gauge, Economy with Efficiency v. Broad Gauge, Costliness with Extravagance. 1872 also saw the opening of the first 3 ft 6 in gauge railway in Japan,1873 On 1 January 1873, the first 3 ft 6 in gauge railway was opened in New Zealand, constructed by the British firm John Brogden and Sons. Earlier built 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in and broad gauge railways were converted to the narrower gauge. Also in 1873 the Cape Colony adopted the 3 ft 6 in gauge, after conducting several studies in southern Europe, the Molteno Government selected the gauge as being the most economically suited for traversing steep mountain ranges. Beginning in 1873, under supervision of Railway engineer of the Colony William Brounger, the Cape Government Railways rapidly expanded and the gauge became the standard for southern Africa. 1876 Natal also converted its short 10 kilometres long Durban network from 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in broad gauge prior to commencing with construction of a network across the colony in 1876. Other new railways in Southern Africa, notably Mozambique, Bechuanaland, after 1876 In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century numerous 3 ft 6 in gauge tram systems were built in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. In Sweden, the gauge was nicknamed Blekinge gauge, as most of the railways in the province of Blekinge had this gauge. An alternate name for this gauge, Cape gauge, is named after the Cape Colony in what is now South Africa, the term Cape Gauge is used in other languages, such as the Dutch kaapspoor, German Kapspur, Norwegian kappspor and French voie cape. After metrication in the 1960s, the gauge was referred to in official South African Railways publications as 1065 mm instead of 1067 mm, the gauge is sometimes referred to as CAP gauge, after C. A. The gauge name Colonial Gauge was used in New Zealand, in Australia the imperial term 3 foot 6 inch is used. In some Australian publications the term medium gauge is also used, in Japan 1,067 mm gauge is referred to as kyōki, which directly translates as narrow gauge. It is defined in metric units, Cape Government Railways Heritage railway List of track gauges Norwegian gauge controversy South African Trains – A Pictorial Encyclopaedia Why Did Japan Choose the 36 Narrow Gauge
10.
Railway electrification system
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A railway electrification system supplies electric power to railway trains and trams without an on-board prime mover or local fuel supply. Electrification has many advantages but requires significant capital expenditure, selection of an electrification system is based on economics of energy supply, maintenance, and capital cost compared to the revenue obtained for freight and passenger traffic. Different systems are used for urban and intercity areas, some electric locomotives can switch to different supply voltages to allow flexibility in operation, Electric railways use electric locomotives to haul passengers or freight in separate cars or electric multiple units, passenger cars with their own motors. Electricity is typically generated in large and relatively efficient generating stations, transmitted to the railway network, some electric railways have their own dedicated generating stations and transmission lines but most purchase power from an electric utility. The railway usually provides its own lines, switches and transformers. Power is supplied to moving trains with a continuous conductor running along the track usually takes one of two forms. The first is a line or catenary wire suspended from poles or towers along the track or from structure or tunnel ceilings. Locomotives or multiple units pick up power from the wire with pantographs on their roofs that press a conductive strip against it with a spring or air pressure. Examples are described later in this article, the second is a third rail mounted at track level and contacted by a sliding pickup shoe. Both overhead wire and third-rail systems usually use the rails as the return conductor. In comparison to the alternative, the diesel engine, electric railways offer substantially better energy efficiency, lower emissions. Electric locomotives are usually quieter, more powerful, and more responsive and they have no local emissions, an important advantage in tunnels and urban areas. Different regions may use different supply voltages and frequencies, complicating through service, the limited clearances available under catenaries may preclude efficient double-stack container service. Possible lethal electric current due to risk of contact with high-voltage contact wires, overhead wires are safer than third rails, but they are often considered unsightly. These are independent of the system used, so that. The permissible range of voltages allowed for the voltages is as stated in standards BS EN50163. These take into account the number of trains drawing current and their distance from the substation, railways must operate at variable speeds. Until the mid 1980s this was only practical with the brush-type DC motor, since such conversion was not well developed in the late 19th century and early 20th century, most early electrified railways used DC and many still do, particularly rapid transit and trams
