Rimutaka Tunnel fire suppression equipment, following the Pike River Mine disaster enquiry. Initially New Zealand DC class locomotives were used for the Wairarapa Connection, then from 2015 the DFB version of the New Zealand DF class locomotive (1979). The tunnel is used for freight from the Wairarapa to Wellington, notably logs from local pine forests and wood products from the Juken New Zealand Ltd timber mill at Waingawa, just south of Masterton. Rimutaka Tunnel The Rimutaka Tunnel (officially Tunnel 2, Wairarapa Line) is a railway tunnel through New Zealand's Remutaka Range, between Maymorn, near Upper Hutt, and Featherston, on the Wairarapa Line.
Rimutaka Incline the Rimutaka Incline Railway Heritage Trust was inaugurated with the intention of reinstating the Rimutaka Incline in four stages: Upper Hutt to Summit; Wellington to Upper Hutt (using KiwiRail's Wairarapa Line); Summit to Cross Creek; Cross Creek to Featherston. The base of operations is on land leased from KiwiRail at Maymorn. Largely thanks to the establishment of the Remutaka Rail Trail, most of the original formation has been preserved and is proposed to be incorporated into the reinstated rail operation, with new works required at Maymorn to link the original formation to the station yard and a deviation at Kaitoke