Qualla: Hex River Tunnels

Hex River Tunnels: Introduction

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Col André Kritzinger, CC BY-SA 3.0. Of the 30 kilometres of track between De Doorns and Kleinstraat, 16.8 run underground. That single statistic captures the audacity of the Hex River Tunnels, a set of four passages bored through the Hex River Mountains of the Western Cape to connect Cape Town's coast with the vast interior of southern Africa. What began in 1872 as a political decree to conquer an impassable mountain barrier became one of the longest-running engineering projects in South African railway history, spanning delays, deferrals, and financial crises across more than a century before the final tunnel opened in 1989.

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Image: Col André Kritzinger | CC BY-SA 3.0

Hex River Tunnels: The Mountain That Blocked a Nation

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Col André Kritzinger, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Cape Fold Belt, that enormous wall of folded rock running along South Africa's southwestern coast, did more than shape the landscape. It shaped the colony's ambitions. In 1872, Prime Minister John Molteno ordered the Cape Government Railways to punch a line through the Hex Ri...

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Image: Col André Kritzinger | CC BY-SA 3.0

Hex River Tunnels: A Project That Refused to Stay Dead

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Col André Kritzinger, CC BY-SA 3.0. Plans for a proper tunnel route through the mountains surfaced repeatedly, only to be shelved each time. Work began in earnest in 1943, when engineers started excavating what would become tunnels number 2 and 3. By 1949, financial constraints froze construction, leaving both tunn...

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Image: Col André Kritzinger | CC BY-SA 3.0

Hex River Tunnels: Through the Witch River Mountains

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Col André Kritzinger, CC BY-SA 3.0. The name Hex River derives from the Afrikaans for 'witch,' and the mountains earned their reputation. When tenders were finally invited for tunnel number 4, engineers debated two routes: a straight line through uncertain geology, or a curved path through shale that would accommod...

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Image: Col André Kritzinger | CC BY-SA 3.0

Hex River Tunnels: From Rails to Trails

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. When the Hexton tunnel route opened, the old Hex River rail pass became redundant. The steep, winding line that had carried trains for over a century was closed to rail traffic and its electrification infrastructure stripped away. But the track between Matroosberg and Osplaas sta...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain