The North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) is the main railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, linking Wellington, the capital, and Auckland, the largest city, via Paraparaumu, Palmerston North, Taihape, National Park, Taumarunui, Te Kuiti, Hamilton, and Pukekohe.
It is 681 kilometres (423 mi) in length, built to the standard New Zealand rail gauge of 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in). Most is single track with frequent passing loops, with double track most of the distance between Wellington and Waikanae, and between Hamilton and Auckland. Around 460 kilometres (290 mi) of the line is electrified: 55 km at 1500 V DC between Wellington and Waikanae, and 412 km at 25 kV AC between Palmerston North and Te Rapa in Hamilton. The 34 km between Papakura and Britomart is currently being electrified.
The first section of what became the NIMT opened in 1873 in Auckland. Construction of the Wellington end began in 1885, and the line was completed in 1908 and fully operational by 1909. The line is credited for having been an economic lifeline for the young nation, and for having opened up the centre of the North Island to European settlement and investment. In the early days, a passenger journey along the whole length could take more than 20 hours; today, the Overlander train takes approximately 12 hours.
The NIMT has been described as an "engineering miracle", with numerous engineering feats such as viaducts, tunnels and a spiral built to overcome large local elevation differences with grades suitable for steam engines.
Read more about North Island Main Trunk: Infrastructure, Rolling Stock, Connecting Lines, Record Runs, Gallery
Famous quotes containing the words north, island, main and/or trunk:
“If I could put my hand on the north star, would it be as beautiful? The sea is lovely, but when we bathe in it the beauty forsakes all the near water. For the imagination and senses cannot be gratified at the same time.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“When the inhabitants of some sequestered island first descry the “big canoe” of the European rolling through the blue waters towards their shores, they rush down to the beach in crowds, and with open arms stand ready to embrace the strangers. Fatal embrace! They fold to their bosoms the vipers whose sting is destined to poison all their joys; and the instinctive feeling of love within their breasts is soon converted into the bitterest hate.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“I knew that the wall was the main thing in Quebec, and had cost a great deal of money.... In fact, these are the only remarkable walls we have in North America, though we have a good deal of Virginia fence, it is true.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“through the Sumner Tunnel,
trunk by trunk through its sulphurous walls,
tile by tile like a men’s urinal,
slipping through
like somebody else’s package.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)