All services returning soon!

We are pleased to announce that our Northern Explorer and Coastal Pacific trains will be returning to the tracks from late spring.

Bookings for all services will open in mid-September.

The Northern Explorer service will re-commence its normal weekly timetable on Wednesday September 30, leaving Wellington on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, and leaving Auckland on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Our Coastal Pacific train returns from Tuesday October 13, running between Christchurch and Picton and returning the same day, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

TranzAlpine will continue its journeys through the Southern Alps on the existing extended weekend timetable once the country returns to Alert Level 1.

We understand that COVID-19 continues to add uncertainty in planning, and indeed all of our re-start dates rely on the country returning to Alert Level 1. You can be assured that, should there be further cancellations directly as a result of Covid restrictions, we will offer affected customers a transfer to an alternative date, a credit for 12 months, or a full refund, regardless of the type of fare purchased.

If you have already booked on a date when a service is no longer operating, our customer care team will be in touch very soon to see which option you would like to select.

We do appreciate your patience and positivity as we all work through this difficult year together. We look forward to welcoming you aboard so you can experience our slice of New Zealand, and we urge you to try some of the other superb tourism attractions in our big, beautiful backyard.