KiwiRail won’t reopen Northern Diversion freight line between Masterton and Pahiatua

The Waiarapa line is closing between December 27, 2024 and February 9, 2025.

KiwiRail has advised it is not going ahead with plans to temporarily reopen the Northern Diversion freight line between Masterton and Pahiatua.

The plan had been to open the line so it could be used to rail-freight logs for about four weeks while the Wairarapa line is closed for major upgrade work this summer.

“We considered the Northern Diversion as an option for keeping logs moving by rail, which would mean sending them the long way around from the depot at Waingawa, up through Pahiatua where it joins the main trunk line, and down to Wellington,” KiwiRail chief capital planning and assest development officer Dave Gordon said.

“We were keen to keep trucks off the road, but looking at the short timeframe and low volumes of freight likely to be going through, we cannot sustain the case to invest in this option.”

KiwiRail said the extra log freight on the road between January 13 and February 9, 2025 would be about 12 to 13 trucks per day between Waingawa (South of Masterton) and Wellington.

“For communities north of Masterton, there are no plans to send freight trains through your region this summer. There will still be crew coming through from time to time so it’s important that people are careful around train tracks, and always look for trains.

“We’ve been approached by a couple of schools who’ve said they’d welcome information for their students around rail safety, which we’re very happy to go ahead with regardless.”

The Waiarapa line is closing between December 27, 2024 and February 9, 2025 while KiwiRail completely replaces track and sleepers inside the 8.8km-long Remutaka Tunnel.

This is the first major replacement programme since the tunnel opened in 1955.

KiwiRail will also use this time to progress signalling work, part of getting the line ready for faster and more frequent trains from 2029.

It is part of the Government’s $350m investment in the Wairarapa rail network.