His identity is a mystery - but the hedge fund exec who dodged $83,000-worth of train fares has got the villagers of Stonegate gossiping.

How did a high-flying executive manage to avoid paying $82,000 in train tickets over five years during his commute into London (and how did he get caught?)

Auckland rail patronage is at a record high, but transport officials are scratching their heads over a 16 per cent fall in ferry trips last month.

Forty of the state-owned company's locomotives were taken out of action following the discovery of the potentially deadly material in a soundproofing compound inside one of the vehicles.

Cost-cutting exercises by KiwiRail could end up costing workers their lives if tests on Chinese-made trains show positive results for asbestos.

A train derailment in Auckland has resulted in two train workers being hospitalised.

Eight Auckland commuter trains have had windows smashed by rock-hurling vandals, injuring passengers in one case.

Mayor Len Brown sounds keener than ever, for obvious reasons, to see work start on the Auckland central rail link. He needs to be seen to be effective again.

A spate of near-collisions between motorists and trains at level crossings have prompted a warning to drivers.

Arrests have been made after four workers were attacked on Auckland's rail network in the past week, sparking a union call for better protection.

Concerns have been raised for Auckland train staff after two inspectors were assaulted in broad daylight, one of them kicked and punched to the ground by eight people.

A Taieri Gorge Railway employee is fed up after the second "bizarre" incident in which a live eel has been dangled from a rail bridge and hit by a train.

At the old Auckland Railway Station near Britomart, there appear to be new electric pylons going up.

As part of his platform for last year's local body elections, Mayor Len Brown said he would push for a 2016 start to Auckland's $2.86b city rail link. However, his ability to gain an early start to the rail link has been much reduced.

A scrub fire has forced a halt to train traffic outside Hamilton.

Penny Lewis lets the train take the strain as she journeys through the Central North Island.

A painted cardboard train was paraded through central Wellington today in a push for a light rail system to be given the go-ahead.

A fatal train crash in New York that killed four people and injured 60 others could be a case of 'highway hypnosis'.

It was hard to believe we were whooshing through South Auckland at 112km/h between high-speed braking trials on the first electric train, writes Mathew Dearnaley.

Ninety years after Auckland's leaders began hankering after electric trains in 1923, the city is poised to join the world of modern rail transport.

There's no better way to cross Canada than on a train, says Anthony Lambert.

On a rail trip from the capital, Pamela Wade is enraptured by the North Island's emerald green beauty and looming mountains.