Revival of the North Auckland Railway Line

In 2019, the New Zealand Government announced an extensive overhaul of the North Auckland Line, which was in significant decline and required a large amount of attention to get back up to standard.
The line was closed for a 6 month period in 2020 to allow the replacing of bridges and lowering/strengthening of tunnels, and was reopened in January 2021 with many speed restrictions, mostly at 25 or 40 km/h.
Since then, the 180 kilometer long section between Swanson & Whangarei sees daily work, replacing rail, sleepers, corridor etc.
At the present point in time, there is one return service daily, 120 northbound from Auckland to Whangarei, and 129 returning in the evening. However, the future plan is to open a spur line to the Port at Marsden Point, opening the opportunity for more trains daily on the network - the construction on this has yet to begin, but funding has been allocated by the current government.
We follow Train 120 between Swanson and Wellsford on 3 separate days, with 3 different locomotive combinations, within the Auckland region's border - as we are under Covid-19 lockdown restrictions and are required to keep within the borders.

[@tonymckeage1028]

Great Video, Good to see the line being used and productive

[@philiphunt2313]

Great video. Specially liked the shot in the heavy rain shower!

[@shorty9055]

What a fantastic video. Without a doubt one the best New Zealand Railways videos I've seen. Awesome

[@paulmiller591]

Good work well done. Great to see line being used well.

[@rikisimeti7955]

Superb video! I really need to chase Train 120 at some point. I have Chased Train 129 twice though. But anyways great video!

[@tutekohe1361]

Great shots, great sound. Excellent video!

[@GTown054]

Amazing footage😎😎!! Keep up the awesome work, you have my LIKE👍👍!!!

[@jtangaere1]

Great video, excellent production values. Thanks a lot.

[@TNZvideos]

Cheers!

[@GuitarStudiodot]

Awesome video - some incredible footage in there

[@Timmo737]

Fantastic video. Well done! 👍👏

[@danley4779]

God you do a good job. Thanks for the footage xx

[@carstoncrew1]

I would have liked to have seen more place names especially Kumeu as the train would have gone through there. As a child and then a teenager rail was the only way we could travel North... or to Auckland. Thanks for your videos on NZ trains as I do enjoy them.

[@MrSeebsy]

Absolutely breathtaking scenery! I've been to 'Fung-a-ray'

[@rexbrown2988]

Beautifully scenic . I'm thinking that there must be a lot of maintenance on the line . The land looks soft and gentle .

[@ABTrainsYT]

Auckland to Whangārei passenger train when? Even if it’s 2 or 4 trains a day

[@farmerfarmerer3847]

10/10 for quality filming, but where is the actual Northern part of it? Wellsford is Auckland.

[@SaurabhAnupamSahu]

Wow ... #SaurabhAnupamSahu

[@n.f.railphotography7185]

Great video Finn:)

[@TNZvideos]

Thanks Nathan, cheers

[@Rawrnz]

top notch stuff young fellow :)

[@TNZvideos]

Cheers Steve!

[@Emmanuel4334]

I enjoyed this video, nice job bro 👍 if only the rotorua branch could see life again and the gisborne line. Quick question 🤔 👀 if the Nal is getting back on its feet does this mean the Dargaville line will get some maintenance cause back in 2015 when I worked with kiwirail some of the guys told me the condition is bad sleepers are gone...

[@TNZvideos]

We can certainly dream! Haven’t heard much on the Dargaville branch unfortunately

[@Emmanuel4334]

@@TNZvideos I just can't wait to see more freight on the line

[@ceegnz]

Nice use of camera audio on the drone shots, well done ! And you must have a nicely waterproof drone !

[@TNZvideos]

Thanks much appreciated, was a quick 5 min downpour so the drone did suffer a bit haha

[@davidlipscombe916]

One question at 6:10 you showed the Northerner , were they trialing that to on the line too ?

[@danieleyre8913]

How many freight movements is it seeing now it’s been renovated? And have they begun the connection to Marsden point yet? Some absolutely stunning scenery here. Could be a route for tourist trains once the world gets over the pandemic?

[@C.S.RailPhotography]

2 trains a day at the moment

[@danieleyre8913]

@@C.S.RailPhotography Hmm not heavy traffic. Still that might change when the link to Marsden point get finished, Has it even commenced yet?

[@C.S.RailPhotography]

@@danieleyre8913 i dont think they have started the actual tracklaying yet but there was alot of equipment and rails etc

[@danieleyre8913]

@@C.S.RailPhotography It will be quite a big project that will require significant earthworks, take over 12 months, and will cost many millions.

[@C.S.RailPhotography]

@@danieleyre8913 yes i know, they had all the earthworks equipment in whangarei last time i was up there

[@NoProb4Rob]

Genuine question: How does it take nearly 8 hours to move it from Auckland to Whangarei?

[@TNZvideos]

The way the line was built back in the 1800/1900’s made it very whindy, for example State Highway One goes over the Bryderwyns with ease, while the rail takes a massive detour through Maungaturoto etc. In saying that, it definitely won’t take as long once the line overhaul is complete, will take off around 2 hours atleast I’d say

[@davidlipscombe916]

@@TNZvideos My family and I did the trip to Auckland in the mid 60's on a Fiat Railcar and the trip took around 4.5 -5 hrs and that was just before it was discontinued , and that was when the NZR Road Services buses took 3-3.5 hours to do the same trip .

[@mikemontagne2703]

Any plans for passenger services, if not already available? A relaxing, 2~hours each way taking in Lovely NEW ZEALAND scenery what a treat!

[@danieleyre8913]

@@mikemontagne2703 It would take more than 2 hours to get between Auckland and Whāngarei along that line. It might happen again in the future one day. But there currently isn’t enough demand to run a locomotive and carriage service between the two cities. And Kiwirail doesn’t have any lower capacity, lower running cost dedicated railcars anymore.

[@Dark_knight1980]

Transport industry , kiwi rail , upgrading from road to rail good and bad things may happen .

[@janelliott679]

I love the expression I heard yesterday on TVNZ ' House Relocations' show. If you love watching trains you're a 'foamer'.. lol. A couple had bought a train carriage for $10 K to do up and live in. Wish it was still working and not being sold..

[@TNZvideos]

Yes I was there at the time as part of the Glenbrook crew, escorting the camera crew - was certainly a good watch

[@philipjp01]

Not exactly fast rail