There have been a number of proposals to build a Taupō railway line as a branch railway linking the township of Taupō in the central North Island of New Zealand to New Zealand's rail network. One proposal proceeded as far as the construction stage before being stopped.

Background By 1952, nearly every main centre in New Zealand was served by a railway, the exceptions being Kaitaia, Queenstown and Taupō. Taupō is one of New Zealand's biggest forestry centres and is a very popular tourist destination.

Proposed routes

North Island Main Trunk line The first time consideration was made to link Taupō with a railway was in 1884 when routes for extending the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) railway south from Te Awamutu to Wellington were being explored and surveyed. One of the proposed routes was from just south of Te Awamutu following the course of the Puniu River inland through to Taupō, and onwards east to link at Hastings with the proposed Palmerston North - Gisborne Line. This route did not eventuate and the present route via Taumarunui was chosen.

Taupo Totara Timber Company Railway

In 1903 the Taupo Totara Timber Company (TTT Co) built the Taupo Totara Timber Company railway to link their milling centre at Mokai with the New Zealand Government Railways line (NZR) at Putāruru. The line was built over the former Lichfield Branch line, which was originally built by the Thames Valley and Rotorua Railway Company to be part of the line to Rotorua. The TTT Co line then went onwards south of Lichfield through what is now Tokoroa and Kinleith and crossed the Waikato River at Ongaroto.

The TTT Co line was constructed as a contour railway, with tight curves designed for later alignment improvement and a ruling grade of 1 in 35. Some TTT directors hoped the railway might help "open up the district" for settlement.

In 1911 the TTT Co put forward a proposal to extend their line from Mokai into Taupō township via Oruanui. The station, and terminus of the line, were to be on Spa Road where Taupo-nui-a-Tia College now stands. This would have required another bridge across the Waikato River.

The proposal was quickly endorsed and praised by many in Taupō, and to support the extension the Taupo District Railway League was formed with powers to support the scheme and ensure it succeeded. The TTT Co proposed running the railway as a private trust-owned company.

However, considerable objection was made to this proposal by the people of Rotorua, particularly the Rotorua Chamber of Commerce. They believed that any railway to Taupō should be from the railhead at Rotorua, running south via Waiotapu. The Rotorua Chamber of Commerce lodged a complaint to Parliament regarding the proposal. The Taupo District Railway League consequently lodged a complaint to the Member of Parliament for the district, Mr MacDonald, protesting the opposition being made by the Rotorua Chamber of Commerce.

As time passed, the proposal for the TTT Co scheme was eventually shelved, largely due to the outbreak of World War I and the considerable objections made by the Rotorua Chamber of Commerce. The line would have required considerable improvements to bring it up to NZR standard as it was only built to carry timber and it consequently had very tight curves, narrow cuttings and light rails. It was not a fast railway line at all and the passengers that the TTT Co trains carried were noted to be able to climb off the train and walk alongside the train as it slowly crawled along.

The TTT Co line eventually closed on 26 October 1944. The Government saw that the line had greater potential and in September 1946 acquired the first 29 km between Putāruru and Kinleith. This section of line opened again on 9 June 1947 under the control of the Public Works Department using steam locomotives purchased from the TTT Co.

Around the same time plans were being made for a large pulp and paper mill to be constructed at Kinleith. The line with its sharp curves, steep grades and light rails, needed to be significantly upgraded to enable heavy traffic. Reconstruction of the line began in 1949, reducing grades from 1 in 44 to 1 in 70 and curves from a 201-metre radius to 322-metre radius. The rebuilt line was handed over to NZR on 12 June 1950.

Around this time there was a proposal to rebuild the line and extend it to Taupō. Nothing further was heard of this proposal after the 1949 election. This proposal has been brought up many times since.

1980 Kinleith-Taupō line

In 1980 NZR investigated four possible routes for an extension of the Kinleith Branch to Taupō. The principal route ran south from the railhead at Kinleith following a route similar to State Highway 1 through to Atiamuri, then followed the western side of the Waikato River through Ohakuri and Orakei Korako to Aratiatia, where the line would cross the river over the rapids, before descending in an arc like curve heading north, then south in the vicinity of View Road and Broadlands Road, to terminate at the Fletchers Taupō Mill on Centennial Drive.

Rotorua–Taupō line

Proposals to link Taupō with Rotorua and the greater Bay of Plenty with a railway date back to 1911. It had long been intended that the Rotorua Branch would be extended into the Bay of Plenty to connect with the line being built from Gisborne. A railway into the Bay of Plenty would link Rotorua and surrounding regions to the Port of Tauranga. Rotorua interests at the time lobbied very hard to have a line built between Rotorua and the Bay of Plenty, claiming the considerable amounts of land that would be opened up and linked to the port, particularly if the line were to be extended to Taupō.

When the TTT Co announced a proposal in 1911 to extend its line running from Putāruru to Mokai into Taupō, this caused much upset in Rotorua, as it weakened Rotorua's case to have a line built to link Rotorua with the Port of Tauranga. The Rotorua Chamber of Commence consequently voiced strong opposition to the TTT Co proposal, and said that "any railway connection to Taupō should be from the Government railway at Rotorua".

The Government however was more focused on completing the East Coast Main Trunk Railway linking Tauranga and Gisborne, and would not consider linking Rotorua to the Bay of Plenty until that line was completed. The outbreak of World War I temporarily put a stop to the Rotorua proposal but once the war was over, enthusiasm for a line to link Rotorua and Taupō with the Port of Tauranga was renewed.

In 1920 a Royal Commission was set up to investigate the viability of the government purchasing either the entire TTT Co or just the TTT Co tramway and options for building a railway into Taupō. The commission consisted of H.J.H. Blow, chief engineer of the Public Works Department, as chairman; Mr. F.W. Furkert, chief engineer of the TTT Co; Mr. H. Buxton of NZR; and Mr. G.H.M. McClure, Commissioner of Crown Lands for Wellington, with Mr. H.H. Sterling as secretary. In 1921 the commission brought forward a unanimous finding "There is urgent necessity in order to avoid great national waste, for an extension of the Rotorua Government Railway to Waiotapu with as little delay as possible". Despite this finding, no further action was taken by the government. The Rotorua Taupō Railway League, led by Edward Earle Vaile, continued to vigorously campaign for the Rotorua–Taupo railway to be built.

In May 1922 a Royal Commission was set up to investigate the construction and working of a Rotorua–Taupō railway, with five members: H. Buxton, G. T. Murray, L.M. Ellis, J.D. Ritchie and H. Munro. Its terms of reference were to access anticipated traffic and profitability and assess the area's settlement potential and a possible route. A favourable report was returned by the commission; despite this, no further action was taken by the government.

In 1924 a line from Rotorua to Reporoa was authorised by Parliament in the Railways Authorisation Act, 1924 as the Rotorua-Taupō (Line): an extension of the authorised line from Rotorua southward to Reporoa. Length about 28 miles (45 km). However construction was not started as the Government's focus at the time was on completing the construction of the East Coast Main Trunk Line.

Much lobbying continued by Rotorua interests and by the Rotorua Taupō Railway League, which consisted of settlers living between Taupō and Rotorua. By 1928 support for the Rotorua–Taupō line was very strong.

Cabinet approval In June 1928 the Coates government cabinet approved the construction of the Rotorua–Taupō railway. The line was to be constructed initially as far as Waiotapu, and then onwards to Taupō via Reporoa. Work began almost immediately with teams of construction workers transferred from the extension of the East Coast Main Trunk from Taneatua to Ōpōtiki, which had been stopped.

An ex-railways employee doubted whether the new line would be economic.

In Rotorua, it had been hoped that work on the line would go to Rotorua people, as unemployment was very high in the town. For approximately one year from the date of approval by cabinet, men worked on constructing embankments and cuttings along the proposed route a short distance out of Rotorua between Waipa and Waiotapu.

However, in 1929, as a result of the depression and a downturn in economic activity, the Forbes government cabinet announced that work on the Rotorua–Taupō railway would cease as soon as jobs could be found in other parts of the country for the men working on this scheme. This was a real blow to the supporters of the railway and did not help Rotorua at a time of high unemployment. There was much vocal opposition in Rotorua at the line being stopped and calls for the work to be resumed. The Rotorua Taupō Railway League produced a pamphlet titled "The truth about the Taupō Railway - the story of a great crime" arguing the need for and numerous benefits this line would bring, and the unjust stopping of the project by the government. The work did not resume and the formation and cuttings were abandoned. Some of this work can still be seen between Rotorua and Taupō along State Highway 5, on the western side of the road, a short distance out of Rotorua.

From 1929 onwards there were various calls for the railway between Rotorua and Taupō to be restarted but nothing of any great significance occurred until 1968.

Paengaroa-Rotorua-Taupō line

In 1968 NZR announced a proposal to construct a new line to Rotorua from Paengaroa on the East Coast Main Trunk, with an extension to the Waipa State Mill. This was a similar route to the one first proposed by the Tauranga East Coast and Hot Lakes District Railway in the 1880s. An extension to Taupō was also seen by NZR "as being very attractive". This proposal followed from the recommendations of a 1963 Commission of Inquiry report to investigate "Improved Access by Land to the Port of Tauranga and Bay of Plenty", which had recommended: The construction of a deviation from Waharoa to Apata through the Kaimai Range, and the closure of the Paeroa to Apata section of the East Coast Main Trunk. The construction of a Rotorua to Paengaroa deviation to eliminate the Mamaku Bank on the Rotorua Branch. An extension of the Rotorua Branch to the Waipa State Mill.

The proposal created much attention both in support and against the idea. NZR wanted a better link into the Rotorua region to tap into and serve the central North Island pine forests with the Port of Tauranga and a line with easier grades than the steep line over the Mamaku ranges.