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
Beaminster Tunnel a white cross which can still be seen "in situ". The tunnel reduced the road's gradient from 1-in-6 (17%) to 1-in-10 (10%) and shortened it by a mile (1.6 km), as well as lowering its maximum elevation by . At the time of its opening, only a handful of road tunnels had been built in Britain; it pre-dates the construction of the first railway tunnels, and it is now the only pre-railway road tunnel in the country still in use. The tunnel was formally opened on 29 June 1832 with enthusiastic celebrations including a 21-gun salute fired from the top