New Zealand bids farewell to ex Australian DMUs
ELECTRIFICATION has replaced the fleet of modernised exWestern Australian 1067mm gauge DMUs in use around Auckland since 1993.
A completely sold-out farewell event was held on July 23/24. While the DMUs ended their service on August 12, planned engineering work made any other date impossible.
Auckland Transport ran double DMU sets for the event to Pukekohe, from where heritage operator Glenbrook Vintage Railway (GVR) ran trains on the freight only 10.6 mile branch to Mission Bush; the first-time special trains had used the whole branch although GVR’s main line excursion trains use the Glenbrook to Paerata section of the line.
The DMUs were built for Trans Perth suburban services in Perth, Western Australia by A Goninan & Co in two batches of five in 1982 and 1985.
Sold to New Zealand Rail (NZR) following electrification of the Perth suburban network in 1993 they entered service in June 1993 were sold later that year to Auckland Regional Council as part of the privatisation of the rail network.
The trains were refurbished in 2002 but displaced by electrification working only the Pukekohe to Papakura section, which is now being electrified.