Rimutaka Tunnel The first shot was fired in 1948 when the Public Works Department started the tunnel with bores of at the western end and at the eastern end. A contract for completing the tunnel was let to a consortium of Morrison Knudsen Inc. and Downer and Company on 7 May 1951. The work commenced at the west end in July 1951 and at the east end in August. The contract was expected to be completed in four years, but the headings met on 20 April 1954 with the concrete lining finished a month later. New Zealand Railways took possession of the
Rimutaka Incline "temporary" measure, it outlasted the second such system in Brazil by 72 years. Construction of the Rimutaka Incline was included in two contracts that were let for the building of the original Wairarapa Line. These contracts were known as the Summit contract and the Incline contract. This contract included the excavation of Summit station yard and related drainage, Summit tunnel, and formation work to a point 26 chains (523 m) beyond the tunnel. It was the shortest contract of those let for the line, it was finished by the original contractor, and it had the least number of alterations. Work