The Southerner Returns To Christchurch

The Southerner was a passenger service that linked Christchurch with Invercargill and ran for 32 years before it was cancelled in 2002. There was one service departing Christchurch and another service departing Invercargill seven days per week. The two services would cross each other mid way between Christchurch and Invercargill and the onboard staff would swap trains and return to their respective depots.

New Zealand Railways was privatised in 1993 and was renamed Tranz Rail. In 2001 a 50% share of Tranz Scenic (the passenger arm of Tranz Rail) was sold to West Coast Railways from Australia, but they decided not to continue with The Southerner passenger service without Government support. A feasibility study conducted at the time, found that there was not a viable business case for Government support, so it was subsequently withdrawn.

In December 2024 Great Journeys Of New Zealand, which is the tourism division of KiwiRail announced that The Southerner would make a limited time return and would run four one day return trips between Christchurch and Dunedin. Unfortunately it was not possible to reinstate the entire The Southerner journey down to Invercargill due to timetable constraints. This one off return of The Southerner ran between the 17th and 21st of May 2025.

For coverage of the Dunedin leg please visit my other video    • The Southerner Returns To Dunedin