WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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In New Zealand, one-lane bridges
are a common enough thing

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that tourists are warned about them.

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The rules are simple.

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Approach with care, go slowly,

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and if there's someone
coming the other way

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then sometimes there are signs
that'll tell you who has priority.

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There is an exception to that rule
in just a couple of places, though,

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which is that, regardless
of what those signs say...

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[train horn]

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always let the train go first.

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- Dunedin Railways started
operating in the 1990s

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and we run a tourist train business.

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We cart about 80-90,000
passengers a year.

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The route is 154km return from Dunedin

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and follows a river gorge
up through the Taieri River

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up onto the Strath Taieri plain.

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The scenery is spectacular,
how they built it.

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They started in 1879, it was
completed in 1891, all by hand.

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It is a challenging route.

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It's really up and down.

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- Just to be clear, this isn't a tram,
or a trolley bus, or light rail,

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this is an actual train
running on the street here,

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because that was a better option

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than trying to build a second bridge
on a very quiet road.

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Technically, I guess this is just
a very strangely shaped level crossing?

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And there are a few other
bridges like this around the world,

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but almost all of them have lights
and sirens and barriers

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to keep cars separated
when there's a rain approaching.

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Here, you just take care
and listen out for the train horn.

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- When the road bridge
further up the river failed,

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they made the rail bridge a road bridge.

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There used to be a lot more in the country.

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It was a cheap option,

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why build two bridges
when you can build one?

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They were mainly built
in less populated areas

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because trains and cars don't
usually combine very well(!)

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so you wouldn't build them in the cities.

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But the cars just have
to follow the road rules.

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There's stop signs at
either end of the bridge

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and you don't do line speed
going up onto a road-rail bridge,

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you're doing 10kph, blowing the whistle
and all that sort of thing.

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Hindon Road-Rail Bridge
is really there only

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to give access to two sheep stations,

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so there's not that much traffic on it.
Rarely you come across a car anyway.

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The train is going at a speed
that it can stop pretty easily,

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and usually the cars have to back up.

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We've never had a problem
on a road-rail bridge.

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Level crossings are worse.