Remutaka Range 30 October 1955, when it was replaced by the Rimutaka Tunnel. The former route is now the popular Remutaka Rail Trail and part of the Remutaka Cycle Trail. The Rimutaka Incline Railway Heritage Trust has plans to rebuild the railway from Maymorn, including the Incline, as a tourist and historical attraction. Remutaka Range The Remutaka Range (spelled Rimutaka Range before 2017), is one of several mountain ranges in the North Island of New Zealand that together form a ridge running parallel with the east coast between East Cape and Wellington. The ridge is at its most pronounced in the southern
Rimutaka Tunnel the former route's Pakuratahi Tunnel. The 117 metre (380 ft) high shaft was constructed after tests showed that the tunnel would not generate enough natural ventilation if diesel traction was used through the tunnel. Originally it had been envisaged that electric traction would be used by extending the 1500-volt DC overhead electrification beyond Upper Hutt to either Featherston or Masterton, but economic studies favoured diesel traction. The new formation included two crossing loops; at the new Maymorn Railway Station (116 wagons) and the Rimutaka Loop (95 wagons) at the eastern portal of the tunnel. There are four bridges including a