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New Zealand AK Class Carriage
The New Zealand AK class carriage is a class of 17 cars built by Dunedin's Hillside Workshops for KiwiRail's long-distance passenger operation The Great Journeys of New Zealand. The class consists of 11 AK saloon carriages, three AKP Scenic Plus carriages and four AKC café carriages, supplemented by three AKL luggage vans and four AKV open-air viewing/generator vans converted from AG vans, similar to those previously used on the Coastal Pacific and the TranzAlpine. The AK class are the first new carriages to be built in New Zealand since 1943. Introduction Two AK cars, one AKC car, one AKL car and an AKV car entered service on the Coastal Pacific on 2 November 2011. The class is used on the Coastal Pacific, the Northern Explorer and the TranzAlpine, replacing panorama 56-foot carriages. Funding of $NZ39.9 million was announced by the fifth National government in March 2009. The class features a new white livery with the KiwiRail logo. Due to passenger loadings falling ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TranzAlpine
The TranzAlpine is a passenger train operated by the Great Journeys New Zealand division of KiwiRail in the South Island of New Zealand over the Midland Line, New Zealand, Midland Line; often regarded to be one of the world's great train journeys for the scenery through which it passes (see famous trains). The journey is one-way, taking almost five hours. There are 16 tunnels and four viaducts, with the Staircase Viaduct elevated as much as . The train has become increasingly popular, and carried 204,000 passengers in the financial year ending 2007. By 2016, passenger numbers were approximately 130,000 a year, but rising again after the setback of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, Christchurch earthquake, and were exceeding pre-earthquake levels. The TranzAlpine service was suspended in 2020 and again in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand, COVID-19 pandemic, but resumed on 14 January 2022. History The train was introduced on Sunday 22 November 1987 to re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coastal Pacific
The ''Coastal Pacific'' is a long-distance passenger train that runs between Picton and Christchurch in the South Island of New Zealand. It is operated by the Great Journeys New Zealand division of KiwiRail. It was called the ''TranzCoastal'' from 23 May 2000 until temporarily withdrawn on 15 August 2011. It was the first train to use the new AK class carriages. The service was suspended after 14 November 2016 due to damage to the rail line from the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake, but in 2018-19, ran from Saturday 1 December to Sunday 28 April. In November 2018, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced $40 million for KiwiRail from the Provincial Growth Fund, to provide year-round service and to upgrade the Kaikoura, Blenheim and Picton stations. The service was again suspended on 23 March 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions. The ''Coastal Pacific'' long distance passenger service was suspended once more in December 2021. There were plans to replace it with a multi-day rail tou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Zealand British Rail Mark 2 Carriage
The New Zealand British Rail Mark 2 carriages were built by British Rail Engineering Limited for British Rail in the early 1970s. From the mid-1990s, 150 were exported to New Zealand. After being rebuilt, refurbished and bogie exchange, re-gauged, they entered service with a variety of operators Rail transport in New Zealand, on New Zealand's railway network. The carriages generally replaced older NZR 56-foot carriages, some of which had been in use for almost 70 years. History In Britain The British Rail Mark 2 was the second design of carriage by British Rail (BR). The first was built in 1963. Between 1964 and 1975, 1,876 Mark 2 carriages were constructed at Derby Litchurch Lane Works. There were seven sub-classes, 2 & 2A to 2F. The Mark 2D to 2F classes, built from 1971 onwards, had air conditioning and could be distinguished from earlier sub-classes by having sheet glass windows. All of the carriages imported into New Zealand were from these latter three sub-classes. When in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Otago Daily Times
The ''Otago Daily Times'' (''ODT'') is a newspaper published by Allied Press Ltd in Dunedin, New Zealand. The ''ODT'' is one of the country's four main daily newspapers, serving the southern South Island with a circulation of around 26,000 and a combined print and digital annual audience of 304,000. Founded in 1861 it is New Zealand's oldest surviving daily newspaper – Christchurch's '' The Press'', six months older, was a weekly paper until March 1863. Its motto is "Optima Durant" or "Quality Endures". History Founding The ''ODT'' was founded by William H. Cutten and Julius (later Sir Julius) Vogel during the boom following the discovery of gold at the Tuapeka, the first of the Otago goldrushes. Co-founder Vogel had learnt the newspaper trade while working as a goldfields correspondent, journalist and editor in Victoria prior to immigrating to New Zealand. Vogel had arrived in Otago in early October 1861 at the age of 26 and soon took up employment at the ''Otago Colonis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretches from Yunnan in the southwest to Xinjiang in the northwest and Heilongjiang in the northeast. Its spread is generally attributed to the greater ease of travel and communication in the North China Plain compared to the more mountainous south, combined with the relatively recent spread of Mandarin to frontier areas. Many varieties of Mandarin, such as Southwestern Mandarin, those of the Southwest (including Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese) and the Lower Yangtze Mandarin, Lower Yangtze, are not mutually intelligible with the Beijing dialect (or are only partially intelligible). Nevertheless, Mandarin as a group is often placed first in lists of languages by number of native speakers (with nearly one billion). Because Mandarin originated in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island), and is the administrative centre of the Wellington Region. It is the world's southernmost capital of a sovereign state. Wellington features a temperate maritime climate, and is the world's windiest city by average wind speed. Māori oral tradition tells that Kupe discovered and explored the region in about the 10th century. The area was initially settled by Māori iwi such as Rangitāne and Muaūpoko. The disruptions of the Musket Wars led to them being overwhelmed by northern iwi such as Te Āti Awa by the early 19th century. Wellington's current form was originally designed by Captain William Mein Smith, the first Surveyor General for Edward Wakefield's New Zealand Company, in 1840. Smith's plan included a series of inter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NZR FM Guards Van
The New Zealand FM guards van is a rail vehicle in New Zealand originally used on freight trains but now used primarily on passenger trains, reclassified AG. Introduction First batch, 1977 In the mid-1970s New Zealand Railways (NZR) had a need for new guards vans for new vans for both freight and moderately fast passenger and express freight services, to replace old and increasingly decrepit vans. Most of the existing vans were built before 1946, including passenger express vans, post-war construction being only two batches of 35 and 30 vans in 1955 and between 1963-1967. The New Zealand Cabinet approval for made for the van order on 15 May 1973 and NZR General Manager T M Small made a second request to the Cabinet Works Committee for approval on 15 August 1974, but no work was made on design until 1975 due to the fact the NZR design staff were preoccupied with design of wagons and the reconstruction of the Northerner express. The first order for 56 FM vans was approved by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fifth National Government Of New Zealand
The Fifth National Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand for three parliamentary terms from 19 November 2008 to 26 October 2017. John Key served as National Leader and prime minister until December 2016, after which Bill English assumed the premiership until the National Government's defeat following the October 2017 government-forming negotiations. After the 2008 general election the National Party and its allies were able to form a government, taking over from Helen Clark's Fifth Labour Government. It was subsequently reformed after the 2011 general election with a reduced number of seats, and after the 2014 general election with a reduced share of the party vote but the same number of seats. The Government had confidence and supply agreements with the following parties: ACT, United Future, and the Māori Party – which gave the Government a majority on major legislation. The National Party also signed a memorandum of understanding with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NZR 56-foot Carriage
The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR 56-foot carriage is a class of long railway passenger carriage formerly used on almost all long-distance passenger rail transport in New Zealand. 88 carriages have been preserved. 1927: prototypes and first batch The first 56-foot carriages were built in 1927, being a development of the then-standard steel-panel AA class NZR 50-foot carriages. These first six carriages were 50-foot carriages with lengthened underframes at the ends, and the carriages retained the same bogie spacing as the 50-foot carriages.Research Notes on carriages, Part 17: 56ft Carriages, by Juliet Scoble Designed for sleeper use, these carriages were clad in wood initially. All were given the AA classification due to their limited running rights, and were numbered consecutively from AA 1616 to AA 1622. Later they were clad in steel and given new underframes to match the later carriages. 1930s-1940s: second batch It was not until 1937 that further 56-foot carria ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Explorer
The ''Northern Explorer'' is a long-distance passenger train operated by the Great Journeys New Zealand division of KiwiRail between Auckland and Wellington in the North Island of New Zealand, along the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT). Three services operate per week in each direction between Auckland's The Strand Station and Wellington railway station. The ''Northern Explorer'' replaced the ''Overlander (train), Overlander'' from 25 June 2012. It was suspended in December 2021, after suspension in August for COVID-19 lockdown. However, it restarted on 25 September 2022. History Origins The first regular daylight Wellington–Auckland passenger train services, augmenting the older overnight services, were the steam-hauled ''Daylight Limited'' and diesel-hauled ''Scenic Daylight'', which ran primarily during summer months and Easter holiday period for many years from the 1920s onwards. The arrival of the ''NZR RM class (88 seater), Blue Streak'' and later ''Silver Fern'' rail ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
KiwiRail
KiwiRail Holdings Limited is a New Zealand state-owned enterprise (SOE) responsible for rail operations in New Zealand and operates inter-island ferries. Trading as KiwiRail and headquartered at 604 Great South Road, Ellerslie, New Zealand, Ellerslie, KiwiRail is the largest Rail transport in New Zealand, rail transport operator in New Zealand. KiwiRail has business units of KiwiRail Freight, Great Journeys New Zealand and Interislander. The company was formed in 2008 when the government renationalised above-rail operations (having previously renationalised the network in 2004) and inter-island ferry operations, then owned by Toll Holdings. In 2021, the government launched the New Zealand Rail Plan, with funding for rail projects to come from the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF), and with KiwiRail remaining an SOE but paying Track Access Charges (TACs) to use the network. History Background Prior to the establishment of KiwiRail, rail transport in New Zealand has been under ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hillside Engineering
Hillside Engineering Group is a trading division of the rail operator KiwiRail in Dunedin, New Zealand. Most of its work is related to KiwiRail, but it also does work for the marine industry in Dunedin. On 19 April 2012 KiwiRail announced it was putting Hillside on the market for sale. In November 2012 KiwiRail announced it had sold part of the business to Australian firm Bradken, and the rest would be closed. The workshops continued to be used for some maintenance work by Kiwirail with a skeleton staff. In October 2019, the New Zealand Government announced that it would be investing NZ$20 million into revitalising Hillside Engineering as a major mechanical hub and engineering facility to service Kiwi Rail's locomotives and rollingstock. History Hillside was founded as the Hillside Workshops of the New Zealand Railways Department in 1901, though workshops had existed close to the current site in South Dunedin since 1875. The workshops were extensively enlarged in the late 1920s, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
