The North Island main trunk line
Tangiwai railway disaster
At 10.21 p.m. on Christmas Eve 1953 the Wellington–Auckland night express plunged into the flooded Whangaehu River at Tangiwai, 10 kilometres west of Waiouru in the central North Island. Of the 285 passengers on board, 151 died in New Zealand's worst railway accident.
Rise and fall - the North Island main trunk line
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Hear about the North Island main trunk line
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