Kaimai Range - Kaimai Tunnel

Kaimai Tunnel

The Kaimai Railway Tunnel runs for nearly nine kilometres under the range, making it the longest tunnel in New Zealand. Construction of the tunnel started from both sides of the range in 1969: the headings met in 1976 and the tunnel opened on 12 September 1978. The Kaimai Range and this tunnel led to a Silver Fern railcar service between Auckland and Tauranga being named the Kaimai Express. This service operated from 1991 until 2001.

A peak of the Kaimai directly above the tunnel, previously unnamed, was named Stokes Peak in 2010 in honour of geographer Evelyn Stokes.

Read more about this topic:  Kaimai Range

Famous quotes containing the word tunnel:

    It is the light
    At the end of the tunnel as it might be seen
    By him looking out somberly at the shower,
    The picture of hope a dying man might turn away from,
    Realizing that hope is something else, something concrete
    You can’t have.
    John Ashbery (b. 1927)