Rail privatisation in New Zealand took place between 1993 and 2008.
New Zealand's railways were initially run by the former provincial governments. The Canterbury Provincial Railways opened the first line, the Ferrymead Railway, in 1863.
It was followed by railways in Southland and Auckland. In 1870, Julius Vogel outlined his "Great Public Works" policy and the central government took authority for the construction and operation of railways, under the auspices of the Public Works Department and New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) respectively.
Some private railways were established in the late 19th century. The most prominent and successful was the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, whose Wellington - Manawatu Line opened in 1886 and was acquired by NZR in 1908 to complete the North Island Main Trunk Railway.
The Midland Railway Company was much less successful; after lengthy litigation, its assets were seized by the government after it proved incapable of completing its projects. On a much smaller scale, the Castlecliff Railway was privately owned from 1885 until 1956.
In 1982, the New Zealand Railways Department became a state-owned enterprise, the New Zealand Railways Corporation. The railways corporation was split into two entities in 1991, New Zealand Rail Limited and New Zealand Railways Corporation. New Zealand Rail Limited was in turn privatised by the Bolger National government in 1993 and renamed Tranz Rail in 1995, when the company was listed.
After financial and commercial difficulties in the early 2000s, the Toll group from Australia bought Tranz Rail, and later sold the fixed infrastructure (track, signals and train control) to the Clark Labour government for $1, which rebranded it ONTRACK. Toll New Zealand operated the trains, except for the Auckland suburban services, under contract from ARTA to Veolia. Toll New Zealand was purchased by the Clark Labour government on 1 July 2008.