Southerner (New Zealand train)

The Southerner was a passenger express train in New Zealand's South Island between Christchurch and Invercargill via Dunedin along the Main South Line that ran from Tuesday, 1 December 1970 to Sunday, 10 February 2002. It was one of the premier passenger trains in New Zealand and its existence made Invercargill the southernmost passenger station in the world.

Express passenger trains on the Main South Line were some of the last services to be hauled by steam locomotives in New Zealand. These services, especially in the late 19th century and early 20th century, were the flagship of the passenger network and received the newest and best motive power and rolling stock. In the mid 20th century these expresses were augmented by evening railcars between Christchurch and Dunedin.

In the days of steam-hauled expresses, one particular part of the Main South Line gained an element of fame. Mail was carried as well as passengers, and the process of delivering and receiving mail at stations during the journey would often delay the express. For this reason, when locomotive drivers hit the relatively flat, straight track of the Canterbury Plains approaching Christchurch, they would seek to run as fast as possible and try to make up as much lost time as they could. Many claims were made of passing the official New Zealand rail speed record of 125 kilometres per hour (78 mph) set by a Vulcan railcar in trials, and the line came to be known as the "racetrack".

By the late 1960s steam motive power had been phased out from the North Island, and a serious effort was being made to replace it with diesel-electric engines in the South. The introduction of the DJ class in 1968 sealed steam's fate, and in 1970 plans were made to introduce a diesel-hauled express to replace the premier express between Christchurch, Dunedin, and Invercargill, the South Island Limited, named the Southerner. It would be hauled by members of the DJ class, and unlike the steam-hauled expresses, it would not carry mail. It began service on 1 December 1970.

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