Dunedin Railways general manager Rebekah Jenkins said they were looking forward to what she described as a fantastic season.
"Trains are off the charts worldwide at the moment. It’s actually blown my mind how many train-specific groups there are out there," she said.
"There’s a lot of group travel that, you know, come, either do the entire country or just the South Island. So, they’re coming and jumping on the train for a day."
The business was running 45 cruise trains for cruise ship passengers this coming year but would also run a normal Taieri Gorge service, Thursday to Monday over summer, which it was not doing last year.
She said going into hibernation meant the company lost its business with independent travellers and tour groups. But it was back with a vengeance this season.
"The feedback we’ve got is huge. You know, there’s people who have said, ‘oh, my goodness, the train’s back. We’re going to come back to Dunedin’."
She said there were six days throughout the season they just could not cater for all the cruise passengers and other travellers wanting to get on the trains. People were coming from all corners of the globe and everyone knew of the Taieri Gorge train.
Taieri Gorge was highly sought after and special as it could not be accessed by road.
The pique in interest had led to the hiring of about 10-12 casual workers for the trains over the summer period.
Last year, the trains drew 25,000-26,000 passengers, a lot short of pre-Covid numbers. In 2019 they drew 96,000 passengers.
"So, a wee way to go, but hopefully it’s a fast climb. If we can do at least 35,000 this year, that’s a pretty good number. We could exceed that with the numbers that are coming through. It’s looking really positive."
