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 Tunnel and a width of 4.68 metres (15 feet 4 inches); it is lined with concrete with a minimum thickness of 38 cm (15 inches) inside the face of the excavation. When the tunnel holed through on 20 April 1954 the surveying error was found to be only 44.5 mm (1.75 inches). The tunnel was planned to reduce the distance between Upper Hutt and Featherston from to . After its completion, a 2.74 metre (9 ft) diameter vertical ventilation shaft was driven up from a point almost halfway through the tunnel. It reaches the surface beside the Remutaka Rail Trail near