Paeroa–Pokeno Line

The proposed Paeroa-Pokeno railway line or deviation in the North Island of New Zealand between Paeroa and Pokeno was a favorite scheme in the 1920s and 1930s. When work started in 1938, it was said that the proposed 47 km (29 mi) line, which had been surveyed 18 years earlier, would shorten the distance from Auckland to towns on the ECMT by nearly 80 km (50 mi). But it "never quite got off the ground", although some 13 km of formation was carried out from 1938 after Bob Semple turned the first sod on 27 January. Very little is now visible.^[1]

The Kaimai Tunnel relegated this section to ghost status; in August 1962 a deviation from Wahora to Apata passing under the Kaimai Range in a long (8.85 km) tunnel was approved .^[1] Work on the tunnel did not commence until 1969. With the opening of the tunnel in 1978, the Paeroa - Katikati section of the East Coast Main Trunk was closed

Originally the line was to be the first part of the East Coast Main Trunk Railway crossing the Bay of Plenty to Opotiki and then inland to Gisborne via the Moutohora Branch.

In 2014 the New Zealand First political party included a proposal to investigate a Pokeno-Paeroa-Te Aroha-Kaimai tunnel line as part of its transport policy. The proposal consists of completing the uncompleted Pokeno-Paeroa line, re-using part of the former Thames Branch between Paeroa and Te Aroha and a new link between Te Aroha and the western portal of the Kaimai tunnel, altogether creating a more direct link along a faster route, providing more capacity on the very busy rail freight corridor between Auckland and Tauranga, together with linking the towns of Maramarua, Ngatea, Paeroa and Te Aroha as potential future satellite suburbs of Auckland on a new commuter rail service route between Auckland and Tauranga.

External links

"1938 map of proposed line". New Zealand Herald. 25 January 1938.
"1938, Bob Semple to turn first sod". Auckland Star. 27 January 1938.
"1938, photo of Bob Semple". New Zealand Herald. 28 January 1938.
"1938, presentation to Bob Semple". New Zealand Herald. 28 January 1938.

References

Leitch, David; Brian Scott (1995). Exploring New Zealand's Ghost Railways:. Wellington. ISBN 1-86934-048-5. Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)

1 2 Leitch & Scott 1995, p. 16.

New Zealand railway lines

Main lines

North Island	East Coast Main Trunk North Island Main Trunk (inc. Kapiti Line)

South Island	Main North Line and Main South Line (inc. Lyttelton Line), known together as the South Island Main Trunk

Secondary lines

North Island	Marton–New Plymouth Line North Auckland Line Palmerston North–Gisborne Line Stratford–Okahukura Line Wairarapa Line (inc. Hutt Valley Line)

South Island	Midland Line Nelson Section Otago Central Railway Stillwater–Westport Line Waimea Plains Railway

Branch lines

Upper North Island	Cambridge Dargaville Donnellys Crossing Glen Afton Kinleith Kumeu–Riverhead Manukau Mount Maunganui Murupara Newmarket Okaihau Onehunga Onerahi Opua Rotorua Taneatua Thames Waiuku and Mission Bush

Lower North Island	Ahuriri Castlecliff Foxton Gracefield Greytown Johnsonville Melling Mount Egmont Moutohora Ngatapa Opunake Raetihi Taonui Te Aro Waitara Wanganui

Upper South Island	Blackball and Roa Cape Foulwind Conns Creek Eyreton Fairlie Ferrymead Little River Methven Mount Somers Oxford Rapahoe Rewanui Hokitika/Ross Seddonville Southbridge Waiau Waimate Whitecliffs

Lower South Island	Bluff Catlins River Dunback and Makareao Fernhill Hedgehope Kingston Kurow Moeraki Mossburn Ngapara and Tokarahi Outram Port Chalmers Roxburgh Shag Point Tapanui Tokanui Tuatapere Waikaia Waikaka Wairio Walton Park Wyndham

Private lines

Significant proposals

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Paeroa–Pokeno Line

External links

See also

References