An extension to Taupo was also seen by NZR "as being very attractive". This proposal followed from the recommendations of a 1963 Commission of Inquiry report to investigate "Improved Access by Land to the Port of Tauranga and Bay of Plenty", which had recommended:  The proposal created much attention both in support and against the idea. NZR wanted a better link into the Rotorua region to tap into and serve the central North Island pine forests with the Port of Tauranga and a line with easier grades than the steep line over the Mamaku ranges. The route of the proposed new line and in particular, the proposed siting of new marshalling yards at Rotorua was the reason for much of the objections. NZR wanted to extend the existing Rotorua Branch line from the central city station, across Fenton Street to Ngapuna where they proposed having a large marshalling yard, along with a spur line running south to the Waipa State Mill. Many people in Rotorua objected to having a railway crossing Fenton Street and wanted the railway marshalling yards located at Waipa instead of Ngapuna. NZR objected to shifting the marshalling yards to Waipa, as it would significantly increase the cost of the project. However an equally great number of people in Rotorua supported the railway proposal and consequently it became a hot political debate. By 1973 NZR started to back down on the proposal and stated that the scheme would only proceed if the people of Rotorua agreed upon where the marshalling yards would be located. This, of course, was never likely to occur and consequently the scheme fell through shortly after. This was the last time serious consideration was given for a railway to Taupo from Rotorua. In 1989 the central city station and railway yard at Rotorua closed, and along with the last 2 km of the line were lifted and relocated to Koutu. A proposal to construct a railway between Kakahi on the North Island Main Trunk and Pukawa on the shores of Lake Taupo, near Tokaanu, was made by a group of three people - Te Heuheu Tukino, Paramount chief of the Ngati Tuwharetoa iwi (tribe); Lawrence Grace, who was closely related through marriage to the tribe; and Tudor Atkinson, the founder of the TTT Co. The three set up a company called the Tongariro Timber Company Limited with the intention to construct the railway and to have branch lines heading into the bush at various points along the route to harvest the native timber along the way.