The Ahuriri Branch, now named the Napier Port Branch, is a 2 km railway branch line off the

Palmerston North–Gisborne Line The Palmerston North–Gisborne Line (PNGL) is a secondary main line railway in the North Island of New Zealand. It branches from the North Island Main Trunk at Palmerston North and runs east through the Manawatū Gorge to Woodville, New Zeal ...

, in

Napier, New Zealand Napier ( ; ) is a city on the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Hawke's Bay region. It is a beachside city with a seaport, known for its sunny climate, esplanade lined with Norfolk pines, and extensive Art D ...

. The branch serves the

Port of Napier Napier Port is in Napier, New Zealand, on Hawke Bay. It is the North Island's second largest export port by tonnage, and is owned by Napier Port Holdings Limited (). As of November 2024, 55% of Napier Port Holdings Ltd is owned by Hawke's Bay R ...

. Ahuriri by the Inner Harbour, originally called Spit, was the original port of Napier, and a 3 km line from Napier was opened on 25 November 1874, just a month after the opening of the line to Hastings. Passenger services were run on the line until 1908. The

1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake The 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake, also known as the Napier earthquake, occurred in New Zealand at 10:47am on 3 February, killing 256,The exact number of deaths varies according to different sources; the ''New Zealand Listener'' article cited be ...

uplifted the area by about 2.5 metres, and the port was transferred to Breakwater, northeast of Bluff Hill. The Napier Harbour Board built a 2.4 km line from Ahuriri to Breakwater, which they operated with two Fowler 0-4-0 tank engines. This line was transferred to the NZR in 1957. With the redevelopment of the Napier Railway Station in 1989–1991 most of the Napier railways facilities were transferred to Pandora Point at the beginning of the Port Branch and the old stockyard at the end of the branch closed. Pandora Point now has a marshalling yard, freight terminal, locomotive depot, and a triangle giving direct access north and south from the port branch. The old main line north to Gisborne was realigned to the east to allow a new link road to the Tamatea area of Napier, and railways land redeveloped as an industrial subdivision.

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