Rimutaka Tunnel 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. The tunnel, which was opened to traffic on 3 November 1955, is long. 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. Rimutaka remains the longest tunnel in New Zealand with scheduled passenger trains. The tunnel was built as part of a deviation to replace the costly Rimutaka
Dudley Railway Tunnel trains were still allowed to use the line. It finally closed to all trains on 19 March 1993, when the section of railway between Walsall and Brierley Hill was closed after some 150 years in use. A cable laying train passed through the tunnel on 1 July 1993 - nearly four months after the line was officially closed. The railway line through Dudley is scheduled to reopen in 2023 as part of an extension to the Midland Metro,although the Metro route would not include the railway tunnel. The reutilised line will also be designed to carry heavy goods trains, which