Editing Branch line (section)

====New Zealand====

New Zealand once had a very extensive network of branch lines, especially in the [[South Island]] regions of [[Canterbury, New Zealand|Canterbury]], [[Otago]], and [[Southland Region|Southland]]. Many were built in the late 19th century to open up inland regions for farming and other economic activities. The branches in the South Island regions were often general-purpose lines that carried predominantly agricultural traffic, but lines elsewhere were often built to serve a specific resource: on the [[West Coast, New Zealand|West Coast]], an extensive network of branch lines was built in rugged terrain to serve coal mines, while in the central [[North Island]] and the [[Bay of Plenty Region]], lines were built inland to provide rail access to large logging operations.

Today, many of the branch lines have been closed, including almost all of the general-purpose country lines. Those that remain serve ports or [[Industry (economics)|industries]] far from main lines such as coal mines, logging operations, large dairying factories, and [[steelworks]]. In [[Auckland]] and [[Wellington]], two branch lines in each city exist solely for commuter passenger trains. For more, see the [[list of New Zealand railway lines]].