page_title: Invercargill
section_title: Rail links
hierarchical_section_title: Invercargill / Transport / Rail links
caption_attribution_description: English: View of the square outside the Invercargill Railway Station, with the premises of Burn Linton Coal company on the right. A covered truck is parked outside the coal company, and outside the railway station there is a horse-drawn carriage. Photographed by Albert Percy Godber circa 1925.
context_page_description: Invercargill is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of the Southland Plains on the Oreti or New River some 18 km north of Bluff, which is the southernmost town in the South Island. It sits amid rich farmland that is bordered by large areas of conservation land and marine reserves, including Fiordland National Park covering the south-west corner of the South Island and the Catlins coastal region.
  Many streets in the city, especially in the centre and main shopping district, are named after rivers in Great Britain, mainly Scotland. These include the main streets Dee and Tay, as well as those named after the Tweed, Forth, Tyne, Esk, Don, Ness, Yarrow, Spey and Eye rivers.
  The 2018 census showed the population was 54,204, up 2.7% on the 2006 census number and up 4.8% on the 2013 census number.
context_section_description: Invercargill was the first town in New Zealand to have a steam locomotive and was once the centre of a much larger rail network than at present. It is at the southern end of the Main South Line railway, which extends up the east coast to Christchurch and Lyttelton via Dunedin. Until the cancellation of The Southerner in 2002, Invercargill had the southernmost passenger railway station in the world. Passenger trains no longer call at Invercargill, except for occasional excursions. The Bluff Branch extends south from Invercargill and has been freight-only since 1967. The Wairio Branch extends northwest from Invercargill to the Solid Energy coalfields near Ohai and continues to carry freight even after the closing of the Ohai coal mine.
caption: The square outside Invercargill Railway Station circa 1925
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