Editing Transport in New Zealand (section)

===Operators and services===
Bulk freights dominate services, particularly coal, logs and wood products, milk and milk products, fertiliser, containers, steel and cars. Long distance passenger services are limited to three routes – the [[TranzAlpine]] (Christchurch – Greymouth), the [[Coastal Pacific]] (Christchurch – Picton) and the [[Northern Explorer]] (Wellington – Auckland). Urban rail services operate in Wellington and Auckland, and interurban services run between [[Palmerston North]] and Wellington (the [[Capital Connection]]), [[Masterton]] and Wellington (the [[Wairarapa Connection]]), and from April 2021 between Hamilton and Auckland (Te Huia).

For most of its history, New Zealand's rail services were operated by the [[New Zealand Railways Department|Railways Department]]. In 1982, the Department was corporatised as the New Zealand Railways Corporation. The Corporation was split in 1990 between a limited liability operating company, New Zealand Rail Limited, and the Corporation which retained a number of assets to be disposed. New Zealand Rail was privatised in 1993, and renamed [[Tranz Rail]] in 1995. In 2001, Tranz Rail's long-distance passenger operations, under the guise of [[Tranz Scenic]], became a separate company; Tranz Rail chose not to bid for the contract to run Auckland's rail services, and the contract was won by Connex (now [[Auckland One Rail]]). Proposals to sell Tranz Rail's Wellington passenger rail services, [[Tranz Metro]], did not come to fruition, although the division became a separate company in July 2003. In 2003, Tranz Rail was purchased by Australian freight firm Toll Holdings, which renamed the company [[Toll NZ]].

The only other significant non-heritage operator is the tourist oriented [[Dunedin Railways]] in [[Otago]], which runs regular passenger trains on part of the former [[Otago Central Railway]] and some on the [[Main South Line]]. On 20 April 2020 the company announced that due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], it mothballed its track and equipment.<ref name="futurestatement">{{cite web|url=https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU2004/S00366/statement-on-the-future-of-dunedin-railways-limited.htm|title=Statement on the future of Dunedin Railways|date=20 April 2020|access-date=20 April 2020|publisher=[[Scoop.co.nz]]|author=Dunedin Railways}}</ref>