Qualla: Remutaka Tunnel https://qualla.com/remutaka-tunnel en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:28 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/r/b/s/w/remutaka-tunnel-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Remutaka Tunnel https://qualla.com/remutaka-tunnel Remutaka Tunnel: Introduction https://qualla.com/remutaka-tunnel/ Photo credit Archives New Zealand from New Zealand, CC BY-SA 2.0. When the tunnel headings met on 20 April 1954, deep inside the Remutaka Range, the surveying error was 44.5 millimetres. Boring from opposite ends through nearly nine kilometres of rock, two crews had aligned their work to within the width of a thumb. That precision capped a project that had been proposed, studied, authorized, postponed, revived, and postponed again for more than half a century. The Remutaka Tunnel was not just an engineering achievement. It was the end of a long argument about whether New Zealand could afford to connect Wellington to the Wairarapa without forcing every train up a mountain at walking pace.

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Image: Archives New Zealand from New Zealand | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/b/s/w/remutaka-tunnel-wp/rbsw-remutaka-tunnel-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Remutaka Tunnel: Sixty Years of Almost https://qualla.com/remutaka-tunnel/ Photo credit Archives New Zealand from New Zealand, CC BY-SA 2.0. The original Wairarapa Line, opened in 1878, crossed the Remutaka Range via the Rimutaka Incline, a harrowing stretch of track that used the Fell centre-rail system to haul trains up grades of 1-in-15. Criticism began before the incline was even finished. In 1898, surveyor J.H. D...

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Image: Archives New Zealand from New Zealand | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/b/s/w/remutaka-tunnel-wp/rbsw-remutaka-tunnel-sixty-years-of-almost.mp3 0:06 2 full Remutaka Tunnel: Drilling Through the Range https://qualla.com/remutaka-tunnel/ Photo credit Archives New Zealand from New Zealand, CC BY-SA 2.0. Construction began in 1948 with the Public Works Department boring initial shafts at both ends. In May 1951, the main contract went to a consortium of Morrison-Knudsen and Downer, known as MKD. Work advanced from the western portal in July and the eastern portal in August. About ...

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Image: Archives New Zealand from New Zealand | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/b/s/w/remutaka-tunnel-wp/rbsw-remutaka-tunnel-drilling-through-the-range.mp3 0:06 3 full Remutaka Tunnel: The Switchover https://qualla.com/remutaka-tunnel/ Photo credit Archives New Zealand from New Zealand, CC BY-SA 2.0. New Zealand Railways took possession of the completed tunnel on 1 February 1955 and began laying track immediately. By October, signalling and centralized traffic control were installed. The final challenge was a section near Upper Hutt where the old line crossed the new alignmen...

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Image: Archives New Zealand from New Zealand | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/b/s/w/remutaka-tunnel-wp/rbsw-remutaka-tunnel-the-switchover.mp3 0:06 4 full Remutaka Tunnel: Engineering Under the Mountain https://qualla.com/remutaka-tunnel/ Photo credit Archives New Zealand from New Zealand, CC BY-SA 2.0. The tunnel rises at a gradient of 1-in-400 from the western portal to its highest point, roughly at the midway mark, then descends at 1-in-180 to the eastern portal. Its internal dimensions are modest: 5.18 metres high by 4.68 metres wide, lined with concrete at least 38 cm thick...

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Image: Archives New Zealand from New Zealand | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/b/s/w/remutaka-tunnel-wp/rbsw-remutaka-tunnel-engineering-under-the-mountain.mp3 0:06 5 full Remutaka Tunnel: Still Working After Seventy Years https://qualla.com/remutaka-tunnel/ Photo credit Archives New Zealand from New Zealand, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Remutaka Tunnel carries both the Wairarapa Connection commuter service and freight trains hauling logs and timber products from the Wairarapa to Wellington. DFB-class diesel-electric locomotives have been the primary traction since 2015. Staff carry gas detectors through the ...

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]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/b/s/w/remutaka-tunnel-wp/rbsw-remutaka-tunnel-still-working-after-seventy-years.mp3 0:06 6 full