Rimutaka Tunnel
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The Rimutaka Tunnel is a railway tunnel through New Zealand's Rimutaka Ranges between Upper Hutt, near Wellington, and Featherston.
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[edit] Length
The Rimutaka tunnel is the second-longest tunnel in New Zealand, and allegedly, the Southern Hemisphere. It is also the longest tunnel in New Zealand to have regular passenger services through it. It is 8.798 kilometres (5.467 miles) long.
[edit] History
The first shot of the Rimutaka Tunnel was fired in 1948. The purpose of the tunnel was to replace the costly Rimutaka Incline and its Fell engines. It was opened on 3 November 1955, five days after the Incline closed. At the time, it was the longest tunnel in New Zealand, superseding the Otira Tunnel in the South Island, but in 1978 the longer Kaimai Tunnel (8.88 km or 5.55 miles) near Tauranga opened.
[edit] Design
The tunnel rises into the middle at 1 in 70. It has a vent halfway through for fumes from locomotives going through the tunnel to escape. The top of the vent is on the Rimutaka Rail Trail, near Pakuratahi Tunnel.
[edit] Traction
[edit] Diesel-Electric
The first locomotives to work through the tunnel were the 792 kW DG class - the tunnel was too long for any steam locomotive, making the Wairarapa Line between Woodville and Wellington via Masterton and the Hutt Valley through the tunnel the first fully dieselised line in New Zealand. Today, DBR, DC and DX class diesel-electric locomotives run the route.
[edit] Steam
The annual Daffodil Carnival steam train Wellington to Carterton has to be hauled by diesel-electrics attached to the front of the steam locomotive from Upper Hutt to Featherston, through the Rimutaka tunnel .
[edit] Electric
There have been proposals to electrify the tunnel and the Wairarapa line as far north as Masterton as an extension of the Wellington suburban electrification. The tunnel was designed to enable catenary to be installed but this has not happened, and the catenary finishes just north of Upper Hutt station.
[edit] Use of the tunnel
[edit] Passenger
Tranz Metro operates passenger services from Wellington through the tunnel to Masterton five times a day each way Monday to Thursday, six, Friday, and twice a day each way on Saturday, Sunday, and public holidays. Excursion trains also go through the tunnel.
[edit] Freight
The tunnel is also used by some Wellington to Napier freight trains, and for freight from the Wairarapa to Wellington, notably wood products from the Juken Nissho timber mill at Waingawa, just south of Masterton.
