Dunedin Railways

Dunedin Railways

Train travelling through the Taieri Gorge
Locale	Eastern Otago, New Zealand
Dates of operation	1991 (1991)–
Predecessor	New Zealand Railways Corporation
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Headquarters	Dunedin, New Zealand
Website	http://www.dunedinrailways.co.nz

The Dunedin Railways (formerly the Taieri Gorge Railway and the Otago Excursion Train Trust) is an operator of a railway line and tourist trains based at Dunedin Railway Station in the South Island of New Zealand. The railway is a council-controlled trading organisation (formerly known as a local authority trading enterprise) owned jointly by the Dunedin City Council and the Otago Excursion Train Trust.

The Otago Excursion Train Trust was formed in 1978 to operate excursions on the Otago Central Railway line, running its first train in October 1979. The services grew in popularity and the Trust realised by the 1980s that it had great tourist potential. New carriages were acquired with the "Taieri Gorge Limited" launching in February 1987.

In 1989 the New Zealand Railways Corporation announced the closure of the Otago Central railway line beyond Taieri owing to a lack of freight traffic following the completion of the Clyde Dam. Dunedin City Council then stepped in, purchasing the line as far as Middlemarch in 1990, which was then leased by the Trust to run its trains. The Trust continued to operate the Taieri Gorge Limited, now with its own locomotives (DJ class locomotives withdrawn by NZR in the same year), but needed a further $1m to fund is operations. A community appeal raised $1.2m. The line beyond Middlemarch was lifted during 1991, and the trackbed handed over to the Department of Conservation in 1993. It is now the Otago Central Rail Trail, a major cycling tourist attraction in the area.

On 8 March 1995 the Dunedin City Council (through its holding company Dunedin City Holdings Limited) and the Trust incorporated a new company, Taieri Gorge Railway Limited. Dunedin City Holdings has a majority of shares (72.03%) and the Trust holds the balance of the shares (27.97%). The company operates as a Council-controlled organisation (formerly known as a Local-authority trading enterprise) under Part 5 of the Local Government Act 2002. This was due to the need to raise more capital to finance expansion of the Trusts operation. Dunedin City Council then sold the railway line to the new company, and the Trust sold its locomotives, carriages and other assets to the new company. The company is governed according to its constitution by a board of directors comprising six people. Two of these people are selected by Dunedin City Holdings Limited, two by the Otago Excursion Train Trust and two jointly by both shareholding parties.