Southerner (New Zealand train)

The Southerner was a train for passenger trains on the South Island of New Zealand. The line connected to a 589 km long stretch the big cities Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill each other.

Route

The train of the Southerner was identical to that of the routing forth with the Main South Line of the South Iceland Main Trunk Railways. Places where the Southerner lodged a halt, were from north to south: Ashburton, Timaru, Oamaru, Palmerston, Dunedin, Mosgiel, Milton, Balclutha, Gore, Mataura, Edendale, and finally reached after about nine hours Invercargill at the southern end of the South Island of New Zealand.

History

Actually there was a passenger train from Christchurch to the south since September 6, 1878, there was a regular train with passenger transport between Christchurch and Invercargill already from January, 1879. Starting November 1904 could be the distance of almost 600 km already in one day cover and from the end of the 1960s took to the change of the steam locomotive through to diesel power. When, on 1 December 1970, the first Frachtexpresszug began his journey from Christchurch to Invercargill, was also the Southerner his debut, replaced the South Iceland Limited Express and ended on 25 October 1971, the steam railway age in New Zealand. But actually the new train was more of a marketing product, as a creation of a new rail link. The Southerner was a new term for a train, who stood for a defined connection, for a new technology ( diesel-powered ) and for special service. So the so-called " on-board refreshment " ( on-board refreshments ) was introduced as the beginning of the 1970s.

30 years later, in the meantime the whole rail network and the railway company was privatized, the line was in September 2001 due to unprofitability? shortly before hiring. With a cash injection of more than NZ $ 240,000 from the public sector ( government and affected cities) operated company Tranz Rail, which was now the owner of the line, the train for a few months until the final setting on.

On February 10, 2002 finally drove the last two trains, one from Christchurch to Invercargill direction, the other in the opposite direction.

Appreciation

In 1997, the New Zealand Post brought in the framework of the Scenic Trains series out a NZ $ 1 postage stamp with an image of the Southerner.