Okaihau

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Okaihau is a small town in the Northland Region of New Zealand's North Island, just north of Kaikohe. State Highway 1 passes through the town. The 2001 New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings recorded Okaihau's population as 687, an increase of 7% or 45 people since the 1996 census.^[1]

On 29 October 1923, a branch line railway was opened to Okaihau from the junction with the North Auckland Line at Otiria. Work on an extension of the line beyond Okaihau to the Hokianga Harbour and Kaitaia proceeded slowly, and in 1936, the line was essentially complete to Rangiahua. However, it was decided that construction beyond Rangiahua would be excessively expensive and the steep section from Okaihau to Rangiahua was seen as unnecessary and accordingly removed. The railway line thus became known as the Okaihau Branch and Okaihau became New Zealand's northernmost railway terminus. With Okaihau being on the main State Highway north (SH1) it became the transhipping point for goods from rail onto road and vice versa.

For the Okaihau Branch's first few decades of operation, passengers were catered for by mixed trains that carried freight as well and ran to slow timetables. These mixed services offered connections with the Northland Express passenger train that ran thrice weekly between Auckland and Opua, but in November 1956, the carriage train was replaced by a railcar service run by RM class 88 seaters. The northern terminus was changed from Opua to Okaihau, and the railway line rose in prominence and importance. The railcars provided a considerable improvement in service and were very popular throughout their service duration. However, mechanical faults plagued the railcars and they were cancelled in July 1967. Mixed trains continued to operate to Whangarei until 21 June 1976, when the line became freight-only. However, declining freight volumes meant that the line did not last much longer, and it closed on 1 November 1987.

Today, Okaihau's railway station's platform edge remains in its former location beside a flat area that was once the railway yard, and just to the north of the town is a tunnel on the ill-fated section to Rangiahua, New Zealand's northernmost railway tunnel.

There have been calls and proposals to reopen the Okaihau Branch to carry forestry traffic but to date nothing has yet come to fruition.