Waikaia Branch

The Waikaia Branch, also known as the Switzers Branch, was a branch line railway in Southland, New Zealand. Proposed as early as the 1870s, it was not opened until 1909 and was operated by the New Zealand Railways Department for half a century until its closure in 1959.

In the late 1870s, proposals for a railway line to or through Waikaia (then Switzers) and environs were seriously considered. These proposals were as part of the Waimea Plains Railway to link Gore on the Main South Line with Lumsden on the Kingston Branch and featured either a circuitous line that passed through Waikaia, or a direct line with a branch to Waikaia. The Waimea Plains Railway was subsequently built on the direct route, and in 1880, a royal commission of New Zealand's railway network favoured an alternate route to the Waikaia area. It suggested that a line be built from Kelso on the Tapanui Branch. However, previously proposed branch from the Waimea Plains Railway was favoured, as it had been argued that it would open up a considerable area of productive farming land, and in 1884, construction commenced northwards from Riversdale. The terrain made construction easy and ten kilometres of formation had been made with 3.2 kilometres of track laid before economic difficulties associated with the Long Depression brought work to a halt. At some point over the next twenty years, the track was removed to be used elsewhere. Work on the line recommenced by 1904; a combined road-rail bridge over the Mataura River, the only work of significance required for the line, opened in May of that year. There were local fears that only the initial portion of the line would be built, but in 1905, the Undersecretary for Public Works and the distrinct engineer inspected the proposed route and felt that due to the agricultural land that would be served, it would be a mistake to terminate the line short of Waikaia township. By 1908, the 3.2 kilometres constructed in the 1880s had been fully relaid and beyond this point, construction was swift. The 22 kilometre long line opened on 1 October 1909.

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