New Zealand Government Railways
| Reporting mark | NZGR |
|---|---|
| Locale | New Zealand |
| Dates of operation | 1880–1981 |
| Predecessor |
Public Works Department (rail operations, acquired 1880) Port Chalmers Railway Company (acquired 1880) Waimea Plains Railway (acquired 1886) Thames Valley and Rotorua Railway Company (acquired 1886) New Zealand Midland Railway Company (acquired 1891) Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (acquired 1908) |
| Successor | New Zealand Railways Corporation |
| Track gauge | 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) |
| Length | 1,828 km (1,136 mi) (1880) 5,696 km (3,539 mi) (1952, peak) 4,799 km (2,982 mi) (1981) |
| Headquarters | Wellington |
The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR (New Zealand Government Railways) and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway system. The Department was created in 1880 and was corporatised on 1 April 1982 into the New Zealand Railways Corporation. Originally, railway construction and operation took place under the auspices of the former provincial governments and some private railways, before all of the provincial operations came under the central Public Works Department. The role of operating the rail network was subsequently separated from that of the network's construction. From 1895 to 1993 there was a responsible Minister, the Minister of Railways. He was often also the Minister of Public Works.
Originally, New Zealand's railways were constructed by provincial governments and private firms. The largest provincial operation was the Canterbury Provincial Railways, which opened the first public railway at Ferrymead on 1 December 1863. Following the abolition of the provinces in 1877, the Public Works Department took over the various provincial railways. However, since the Public Works Department was charged with constructing new railway lines (among other public works) the day to day railway operations were transferred into a new government department on the recommendation of a parliamentary select committee. At the time 1,828 kilometres (1,136 miles) of railway lines were open for traffic, 546 km (339 mi) in the North Island and 1,283 km (797 mi) in the South Island, mainly consisting of the 630 km (390 mi) Main South Line from the port of Lyttelton to Bluff.
The Railways Department was formed in 1880 during the premiership of Sir John Hall. That year, the private Port Chalmers Railway Company Limited was acquired by the department and new workshops at Addington opened. Ironically, the first few years of NZR were marked by the Long Depression, which led to great financial constraint on the department. As a result, the central government passed legislation to allow for the construction of more private railways. A Royal Commission, ordered by Hall, had removed plans for a railway line on the west coast of the North Island from Foxton to Wellington. Instead, in August 1881 the Railways Construction and Land Act was passed, allowing joint-stock companies to build and run private railways, as long as they were built to the government's standard rail gauge of 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) and connected with the government railway lines. The Act had the effect of authorising the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company to build the Wellington-Manawatu Line.
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