What Happened to New Zealand's Regional Rail Network?

In the 21st century, Auckland has undergone an exciting transformation of its rail network. With the opening of Britomart and the electrification of its network among other improvements, has seen public transport patronage triple from 33 million in 1995 to over 100 million in 2019. With the transformational City Rail Link expected to open in 2026 expected to aid further growth. Wellington meanwhile has had a solid suburban network entrenching its Northern suburbs. With a total of over 11 million passengers annually. In the rest of the country however, it's a different story. As stations sit abandoned and tracks keep degrading. But it wasn’t always this way. New Zealand once had a very extensive rail network that connected most towns and cities 80 years ago. And as recently as 2000, there were still multiple intercity routes operating throughout the country. So how did New Zealand’s regional rail network decline to the state it's in today? How big was the network at its peak? What are the consequences of its decline? And should we invest in the network once more? All of which will be answered in this video. Instagram:   / kiwiplannersam   Tiktok:   / kiwiplannersam   Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/kiwiplanners... My video on the CRL:    • How Auckland Took a Century to Build its B...   City Moose's video on privitaztion of public transport:    • Why privatising public transport doesn't work   Greater Auckland's Regional Rapid Rail Proposal (from 2017 but lot of relevant information today): https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/wp... Andre Brett's book Can't get there from here: https://www.nationwidebooks.co.nz/pro... Map on thumbnail by Luke Christensen Chapters: 0:00: Intro 0:59: Promotion 1:08: Golden age of rail in New Zealand (1860s to 1950) 3:11: Sharpe decline (1950 to 2005) 6:01: Modern day (2005 to present) 7:09: Consequences 8:46: Benefits of Regional Rail 11:12: Challenges of reintroducing Regional Rail 14:42: Should New Zealand reinvest in Regional Rail (conclusion) 16:09: Outro Sources: 1.    • The Future of Regional and Long Distance P...   2. https://publictransportforum.nz/artic... 3. https://www.publictransportforum.nz/a... 4.    • Heritage Talks: New Zealand's shrinking pa...   5. https://andrebrett.com/new-zealands-s... 6. https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/03/06/ro... 7. https://newsroom.co.nz/2022/02/07/las... 8. https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/10-0... 9. https://ara.net.au/media-release/rail... 10. https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/28-1... 11. https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/20... 12. https://www.transport.govt.nz/assets/... 13. https://www.transport.govt.nz/assets/... 14. https://teara.govt.nz/en/railways/print 15. https://andrebrett.com/2022/01/11/bet... 16. https://www.kiwirail.co.nz/communitie.... 17. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/... 18. https://www.kiwirail.co.nz/our-busine... 19. https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/20... 20. https://railheritage.org.nz/wp-conten...