Section of historical Napier to Gisborne railway line to be removed to keep road to Mahia open

The main road into the Mahia Peninsula could soon be moved away from the coastal edges and onto the adjacent railway track.

KiwiRail is removing 300 metres of the rail line north of Wairoa (to Gisborne) track south of Waikokopu to ensure the Nūhaka-Opoutama Rd into Mahia stays open.

Work has started on the removal of the railway line. Photo / Paul Taylor

KiwiRail Programme Director Daniel Headifen said the main route along Blacks Beach was previously moved into the rail corridor and reduced to a single lane.

“Removing the rail track means that the road could move even further away from the coastline and potentially be made two lanes again.”

The railway line along Blacks Beach into Mahia is being removed and stored. Photo / Paul Taylor

The track is being removed in “sets” of shorter lengths of rail and sleepers and being transported to a KiwiRail depot to be put in the material stock bank.

Wairoa District Council (WDC) was cautiously optimistic a solution to the coastal erosion may be getting closer.

The Nuhaka-Opoutama Rd into Mahia will be moved onto the rail corridor and away from the eroding coastline. Photo / Paul Taylor

WDC chief executive Kitea Tipuna said the likely solution is in the final design stage and will see the road moved closer inland away from the coast.

“This area of road is susceptible to coastal erosion, and a sustainable solution is needed to ensure reliable connectivity.”

She said the council was working with partners, including KiwiRail, to achieve the best result, and thanked motorists for their patience while the final stages of design are worked through.

Closure of the Wairoa to Gisborne railway line in 2012

The railway line has been a contentious topic since it was closed in 2012 after numerous washouts and slips.

A washout in the Kōpuawhara-Beach Loop area left about 100 metres of the track suspended in mid-air.

A major washout on Napier-Gisborne railway line left a stretch of the line suspended in the air.

The washout led to the mothballing of the Napier-Wairoa section which was reopened in 2019 to meet the wall-of-timber demand for logging transport to Napier Port.

In November 2021 a slip along the mothballed rail line between Gisborne and Wairoa damaged sacred Māori whenua and dashed hopes of the railway being reinstated.

The slip followed flooding and was one of the biggest scientists had seen at the time.

The slip at Whareongaonga, south of Gisborne swept down the hill and the shoreline.

It destroyed wāhi tapu, or sacred land, close to the manawa (heart) of Ngāti Rangiwaho, a hapū of the iwi Ngāi Tāmanuhiri.

Tourism operator Railbike Adventures shortens track

Railbike operations manager Geoff Main said he was aware of the track removal and was not surprised by the decision.

Removing the railway would not impact his Railbike Adventures tourism business as he agreed with KiwiRail to shorten the coastal track.

He was sad to lose the “scenic piece along Blacks Beach”, but put the “joint agreement” to lift the tracks down to Mother Nature.

Railbike Adventures operations manager Geoff Main said he wasn't shocked by the decision to remove the track.

“It had to be done sooner or later. The road was going to drop into the sea.”

Main had consulted with KiwiRail about the track removal when he was in discussions about a high rates charge on the lease of the railway corridor for his Railbike Adventure business at the beginning of the year.

Main said he came to an agreement with KiwiRail and WDC over the lease agreement, and going forward will pay rates for a 10-metre-wide strip for 11km of the track.

“Rather than having to pay rates on all the extra land that is in the rail corridor, we now legally only lease a 10-metre wide strip.”

Main still had to pay the rates bill of $40,765 in June for leasing the Mahia line. He said was happy with the reduced lease agreement and a significant reduction in rates.

The railbike track now starts at Waikokupu and goes to the Kōpuawhara Viaduct, and the tourism operation was “winding down for the winter” but was still open for business.

Links to a 1938 disaster

In 1938 during the railway construction on the Gisborne to Wairoa railway a flood swept through a public works camp along the Kōpuawhara Stream killing 22 people.

A sudden cloud burst sent a well of water surging through the camp killing 21 men and one woman in the river valley which appeared to be safely above the level of the stream.

The weather event was the country’s deadliest 20th-century flood, according to New Zealand History Online.

No one was prepared for the 5m wall of water which hit the camp sometime after 3am.

One worker noticed the water breached the banks of the stream and began pouring across the campsite.

He tried to raise the alarm, running from hut to hut, before being swept away.

Men struggled in water up to their necks. Some took refuge on the roofs of their huts but the vast volume of water collapsed most of these structures.

Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings and Central Hawke’s Bay newsrooms. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and has a love for sharing stories about farming and rural communities.