New Zealand Railways Department

New Zealand Government Railways

Overview
Headquarters	Wellington
Reporting mark	NZGR
Locale	New Zealand
Dates of operation	1880–1982
Predecessor	Public Works Department (rail operations, acquired 1880) Port Chalmers Railway Company (acquired 1880) Waimea Plains Railway (acquired 1886) Thames Valley and Rotorua Railway Company (acquired 1886) New Zealand Midland Railway Company (acquired 1891) Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (acquired 1908)
Successor	New Zealand Railways Corporation
Technical
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Length	1,828 km (1,136 mi) (1880) 5,696 km (3,539 mi) (1952, peak) 4,799 km (2,982 mi) (1981)

The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR (New Zealand Government Railways) and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway system.^[1] The Department was created in 1880 and was corporatised on 1 April 1982 into the New Zealand Railways Corporation.^[2] Originally, railway construction and operation took place under the auspices of the former provincial governments and some private railways, before all of the provincial operations came under the central Public Works Department. The role of operating the rail network was subsequently separated from that of the network's construction. From 1895 to 1993 there was a responsible Minister, the Minister of Railways. He was often also the Minister of Public Works.

Apart from four brief experiments with independent boards, NZR remained under direct ministerial control for most of its history.^[3]