The Nelson Section was an isolated government-owned railway line between Nelson and Glenhope in the Tasman district of New Zealand's South Island. While part of the New Zealand Government Railways, the section was never connected to the national railway network, although there were plans to do so. The line operated for 79 years between 1876 and 1955. Unusually for an isolated line, there were passenger and freight services for most of its existence, with freight outlasting passenger services by just a year.

Nelson is a New Zealand city on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay at the top of the South Island. It is the oldest city in the South Island and the second-oldest settled city in New Zealand; it was established in 1841 and became a city by royal charter in 1858.