The Newmarket Line is a railway line in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand, that runs between Quay Park Junction, near Britomart, and Newmarket train station. It is 2.64 km long. It connects the

North Island Main Trunk The North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) is the main railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, connecting the capital city Wellington with the country's largest city, Auckland. The line is long, built to the New Zealand rail gauge of and ser ...

(NIMT), which runs from the east into Britomart via the waterfront, and the

North Auckland Line The North Auckland Line (designation NAL) is a major section of New Zealand's Rail transport in New Zealand, national rail network, and is made up of the following parts: the portion of track that runs northward from Westfield Junction to Newm ...

(NAL), which runs between

Westfield Junction Westfield Junction is a railway switching junction on the List of Auckland railway stations, Auckland railway network in New Zealand. It is north of Otahuhu railway station, Otahuhu station and is surrounded by the industrial area of Westfie ...

and

Otiria Otiria is a rural locality in the Northland Region of New Zealand's North Island. It neighbours Moerewa to the east, with the nearest major town, Kawakawa a few kilometres further eastwards. Other nearby localities include Pokapu to the south, ...

via Newmarket and

Whangārei Whangārei () is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the largest settlement of the Northland Region. It is part of the Whangarei District, created in 1989 from the former Whangarei City, Whangarei County and Hikurangi Town councils to admi ...

. It has been named the Newmarket Line since 2011. From 1996 to 2011, it was named the Auckland–Newmarket Line, as it ran from Auckland Railway Station until the station closed in July 2003. From 1977 to 1996, it was named the Newmarket Branch Railway. Southern Line, Western Line and

Onehunga Line The Onehunga Line in Auckland, New Zealand, is the name given to suburban train services that operate between Newmarket and Onehunga. Routing From Newmarket, Onehunga Line services follow the North Auckland Line (NAL) to Penrose, where t ...

services of the Auckland rail network travel on this line. The Newmarket Line was originally opened in 1873 as the northern portion of Auckland's first railway to Onehunga via Penrose. It was part of the North Island Main Trunk Railway until the Westfield Deviation opened in 1930. Since 1915, it has been fully

double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most li ...

ed after an upgrade of

Parnell Tunnel The Parnell Tunnel is a railway tunnel under Parnell, New Zealand, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand. It is long, and is on the Newmarket Line. The tunnel allows the Western Line (Auckland), Western and Southern Line (Auckland), Southern lines co ...

north of Newmarket. Previous to that, it led as a single track section through a previous Parnell Tunnel. In 2007, the major junction that connects the Newmarket Line with the North Auckland Line was rebuilt into a '

wye junction In railroad structures and rail terminology, a wye (like the'' 'Y' ''glyph) or triangular junction (often shortened to just triangle) is a triangular joining arrangement of three rail lines with a railroad switch (set of points) at each corner ...

', removing the time-consuming reversing

backshunt A backshunt is a railway track configuration in situations where a change in (almost opposite) direction is required and a traditional curve cannot fit. There are two main applications of a backshunt. # To climb or drop a steep incline using a Zi ...

needed to access the NAL to the north from the Newmarket Line, thus giving the line better access to Britomart Station. This was part of a big upgrade of rail infrastructure in Auckland, and the Newmarket Station and Junction was included in the stage one electrification of the network. A new station, Parnell, began operation on the line at the suburb of the same name on 12 March 2017 to serve the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

and Southern Lines of the city's train network, with an official opening on 13 March.

References

Bibliography

* {{NZR Lines Railway lines in New Zealand Public transport in Auckland Rail transport in Auckland Railway lines opened in 1873 1873 establishments in New Zealand

See also

References

Bibliography