Railway electrification in New Zealand Railway electrification in New Zealand Railway electrification was initially adopted by the New Zealand Railways in New Zealand for long tunnels; the Otira Tunnel, the Lyttelton Rail Tunnel and the two Tawa Tunnels of the Tawa Flat Deviation. Electrification of Wellington suburban services started with the Johnsonville Line and Kapiti Line out of Wellington from the 1930s. Auckland suburban services were electrified in 2014–15. Electrification of long distance services on the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) dates from 1986, although KiwiRail is now considering diesel operation of the NIMT. New long tunnels e.g. the Rimutaka Tunnel and the Kaimai Tunnel
Rimutaka Incline closed. The smoke, the noise, the mad sooty passengers with open windows - this is what it was like to go up the Rimutaka Incline — and then there were the tunnels . . . Several options for an alternative to the Incline were considered in the 20th century, but it was not until after WWII that a route through a tunnel between Maymorn and Lucena's Creek was selected. Construction was started in 1948 by the Public Works Department and completed by a private contractor in 1955. The tunnel and deviation opened on 3 November 1955, five days after the