Events In History
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24 December 1953Tangiwai railway disasterThe worst railway disaster in New Zealand’s history occurred on Christmas Eve 1953, when the Wellington–Auckland night express plunged into the flooded Whangaehu River, just west of Tangiwai in the central North Island. Read more...
Articles
Tangiwai disaster
New Zealand's worst railway disaster occurred 60 years ago on Christmas Eve 1953, when the Wellington–Auckland night express plunged into the swollen Whangaehu River near Tangiwai. Of the 285 people on board, 151 were killed. The tragedy stunned the world and left a nation in mourning.
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Page 2 – Wrong place at the wrong time
The unfortunate sequence of events that led to the Tangiwai disaster
Locality at 700m altitude, to the south of Mt Ruapehu, 8km west of Waiōuru. Site of New Zealand's worst rail disaster.
Meaning of place name
Tangi: to cry or weep; wai: water. The form Tangiwai may be a Pākehā inversion of the more usual Waitangi.
