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
Rimutaka Incline 13 September 1871. Julius Vogel, Colonial Treasurer, travelled to England to raise finance for a major public works programme for railway construction. Vogel returned via the United States, where he studied rail systems. After the act of parliament was passed, a survey party set out to make preliminary investigations of possible routes for a railway over the Rimutaka Range (spelled Rimutaka Range, since 2017). These were complete by December 1870, the party having investigated four routes. A commonality between all the proposals was the section from Upper Hutt to Kaitoki (later Kaitoke). Between Kaitoke and the Wairarapa, the four proposals