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
Tauern Railway Tunnel Tauern Railway Tunnel The Tauern Railway Tunnel () in Austria is the longest tunnel of the Tauern Railway crossing the main chain of the Alps. Currently, it has a length of . The highest point of the tunnel, which is also the highest point in all of the railway line, is at above sea level. The tunnel's north entrance is at Böckstein in the valley of Bad Gastein in the state of Salzburg, the south entrance near Mallnitz in Carinthia. Plans for constructing an interconnection railway line between the terminus of the Austrian Western Railway at the city of Salzburg