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
Sapperton Railway Tunnel Sapperton Railway Tunnel The Sapperton Railway Tunnel, named after the nearby village of Sapperton (near Cirencester, Gloucestershire) carries the Golden Valley Line from Stroud to Swindon through the Cotswold escarpment. It was begun by the Cheltenham and Great Western Union railway in 1839 and taken over by the Great Western Railway in 1843, being completed in 1845. There are actually two tunnels, the main one at 1 mile 104 yards (1704m) in length, and separated by a short gap, a second at just 353 yards (323m). The initial plans for the tunnel, dating from 1835, were unusual in that it