You said in an earlier post that the line had an uncertain future. Are there trains that run at night? Does the container port at Whangarei also have an uncertain future?
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The container port at Whangarei does not have rail access at the new Marsden Point terminal. The line has clearance issues in that at least 4 tunnels can't allow "high cube" (or 9' 6) containers unless on well wagons. One of those tunnels has stability issues and a 10Km/h speed limit and the cost to upgrade the line has a lot of digits. Passenger trains were banned from using the line this year and the line was losing around $2M annually. It has been under threat of closure for many years. There is both commercial pressure (from Fonterra - NZ's largest corporate and KiwiRails largest customer) and politics involved which has helped keep it open the last 5 years.
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