Kaimai Tunnel Kaimai Tunnel The Kaimai Tunnel is a railway tunnel through the Kaimai Range in the North Island of New Zealand. Since it was opened in 1978, it has held the title of longest tunnel, at 8.879 kilometres, in New Zealand, assuming this distinction from the previous title holder, the Rimutaka Tunnel. It is part of the Kaimai Deviation, which was constructed to bypass the old route of the East Coast Main Trunk Railway through the Karangahake Gorge (part of which has been preserved as the Goldfields Railway). The Kaimai Deviation is a 24 km line between Waharoa and Apata, including
Railway preservation in New Zealand over an existing historic formation abandoned in 1955. This is the route of the former Rimutaka railway and Rimutaka Incline over a distance of some 20 km, including 5 km of the 1 in 15 incline worked by the Fell centre-rail system. Although the Taieri Gorge Railway in Dunedin is a much longer and successful heritage railway at 60 km length, it has the advantage that all its track was still in place when it was set up in 1990. The Rimutaka proposal faces many obstacles from the construction of new track and formation rehabilitation works, to the building of