Waiau Branch - Construction

Construction

During the 1870s, significant debates motivated by regional interests took place regarding the most desirable route for a railway from Canterbury to the West Coast, Nelson, and Marlborough. A number of these plans involved lines that would have in some way incorporated the route of what became the Waiau Branch, and when it was built, it was seen as an integral part of the Main North Line.

Despite an 1879 report favouring a coastal route via Kaikoura as the line north, the inland route was initially chosen and construction work soon began. Its junction with the Main North Line (though not realised by anyone at the time as it was intended to be the main line itself) would be in Waipara, and the section to Waikari was opened on 6 April 1882. Another report in 1883 also favoured the coastal route, but construction of the Waiau route proceeded and the section to Medbury opened on 15 September 1884, with Culverden reached on 8 February 1886.

Construction halted once Culverden was reached, and it became the northern terminus for the main line along the east coast of the South Island. One notable proposal at this time involved extending the line via Hanmer Springs to Tophouse, and then building two routes from there, one to Nelson and one down the Wairau River valley to Blenheim. Another proposal involved building a line across the Southern Alps to Reefton, and accessing Nelson and Marlborough via a line through the Buller Gorge. The Reefton route remained a possibility for access to the West Coast until the Otira Tunnel was built, and the route to Nelson and Blenheim via Tophouse remained under consideration until the 1930s.

Despite many proposals, the railhead remained in Culverden for a number of decades. In 1902, the Culverden - Waiau Railway Extension League was formed, and it created enough pressure to encourage a new survey of a route from Culverden to Waiau in 1908. It wasn't until 10 June 1914, however, that work on this extension finally began, and despite delays, work continued through World War I, with the line opened to Waiau on 15 December 1919. It was then proposed that the line could be extended to Kaikoura and then through to Marlborough, and some formation was built, but this work ultimately ground to a halt and the line's terminus remained in Waiau. The line effectively became a branch of the Main North Line when approval was given to extend the Parnassus Branch up the coast as the main line; this was completed in 1945.