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2 unusual facts about Rimutaka Tunnel


Rimutaka Tunnel

The Rimutaka Tunnel (officially Tunnel 2, Wairarapa Line) is a railway tunnel through New Zealand's Rimutaka Ranges, between Maymorn, near Upper Hutt, and Featherston, on the Wairarapa Line.

It was the longest tunnel in New Zealand, superseding the Otira Tunnel in the South Island until the completion of the Kaimai Tunnel (8.88 km, 5.55 miles) near Tauranga in 1978.



see also

NZR H class

At the opening ceremony for the Rimutaka Tunnel on 3 November 1955, the then Minister of Railways John McAlpine gifted locomotive H 199 to the town of Featherston.