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New Zealand Diesel and Electric Traction

Electric Locomotives and Multiple Units

The first electrified trackage on NZR was the steeply graded Arthurs Pass - Otira section including the 8 km Otira tunnel, opened in 1923. The English Electric Co's Dick-Kerr Works supplied five EO class locomotives for this section in 1922. In 1929, six smaller EC class locos were built by EE for the Christchurch - Lyttelton section electrification scheme. From 1938 ten ED class were built by EE and NZR for use on the newly opened Tawa Deviation and recently / subsequently electrified Wellington suburban lines. These were followed by seven EW class articulated locos from EE in 1952 for Wellington, and five EA class (later EO) locos from Toshiba of Japan replaced the English Electric EO locomotives at Otira in 1968. All of these locos were 1500VDC type. Following the electrification of the NIMT between Palmerston North and Hamilton in the mid 1980s, twenty-two Class 30 25kVAC locomotives were built by Brush of the UK. They are now generally known as the EF class and since the 1997 dieselisation of the Arthurs Pass - Otira section, are the only electric locos presently operating on Tranz Rail tracks.

Electric Multiple Units

The English Electric Co of UK supplied six DM class motor coaches, each with a D class trailer, in 1938 for the steeply graded and multiple-tunneled Johnsonville Branch in Wellington. These were followed by forty-three more DMs and seventy-three more Ds between 1946 and 1954 as the other suburban lines around Wellington were electrified. In 1982 - 83, Ganz Mavag of Hungary supplied forty-four EM class motor coaches with GEC electrical equipment, each with an ET class trailer. These replaced passenger carriages hauled by electric locomotives. Some of the later batches of English Electric units are still in service on the Johnsonville Line (where clearances restrict use of the EM/ET class) and in peak hour service on other Wellington lines. All EMUs on NZR operate on 1500VDC.

Class 30/EF 31/05/2005	Class DM 1/06/2005	Class EA/EO 18/11/2005	Class EC 18/11/2005	Class ED 18/11/2005
Class EM / ET 18/11/2005	Class EO (EE) 20/01/2007	Class EW 18/11/2005

© Patrick Dunford. Last updated 20 January 2007. Check here for the most current information on locomotive status.

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