Friday 5th August 2022
Page 4
THE HOLE IN THE HILL The Otira Tunnel between Westland and Canterbury will be 99 years old on August 4th. Preparations are in full swing to celebrate, in one year from now, the centennial of what is still one of New Zealand’s biggest
infrastructure projects. On August 4th 1923, Ōtira’s winter weather came to the party. The rain that had drenched everything the night before stopped falling. It was cold, very cold, and the rain
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threatened throughout the day. This being Ōtira, nestling in the western lee of the Southern Alps, was nothing new. This tiny town was, however, about to enter the history books. As the rain threatened, the Prime Minister William Massey officially opened the nation’s biggest engineering project, one that was to become known around the world. The five and a quarter mile (or in today’s terms the 8.55 kilometre), Ōtira Rail Tunnel, was to be open for business. It had taken fifteen years, with hundreds of men toiling away in dreadful conditions, hacking their way through solid rock and sometimes not so solid, using explosives, picks and shovels to finally link East with West, to pierce the mountain barrier that had kept the two provinces, Canterbury and the West Coast, apart. The dream had obsessed politicians and others for many years. Although a precarious track had been hacked over Arthur’s Pass, it was a nightmare crossing which made moving goods and people difficult, and often impossible. The obvious solution was a rail tunnel. It was to be the longest tunnel in the Empire, would slope upwards from West to East, so would require a fleet of electric locomotives to haul the trains. These would be the first electric trains in New Zealand. To prepare for when the tunnel will be 100 years old in August
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2023, a group of people who recognise how important this project was and is, are hard at work planning a fitting commemoration of this momentous event. This will be held on the spot at the tunnel mouth, close to the Otira township, where Mr Massey performed the ceremony a century before. The current owners of the tunnel, KiwiRail, recognise the significance of the centennial, pledging money to the celebrations. Several years ago, a massive project to clean the tunnel from end to end received international attention. Mark Heissenbuttel is KiwiRail’s South Island General Manager. He is very aware of the work that the tunnel requires. “Our teams work continuously to maintain the track through the 8.55kilometre tunnel, recently carrying out a major upgrade of the tunnel’s communication systems.” Mr Heissenbuttel said that tunnel is vital in linking the West Coast into the rest of the New Zealand rail network. “We use it to transport a large tonnage of freight and of course passengers on our Tranz Alpine Service.” Rail Heritage Trustee, Bruce Shalders is writing a special commemorative book, with committee members Chris Stewart and Di Gordon Burns. “The tunnel has lasted 100 years and is still doing what it was built for, connecting East with West, hauling coal, timber and dairy, not to mention passengers.” These days the tunnel is one of the highlights of the Tranz Alpine passenger’s journey. For Bruce Shalders, next year’s commemoration to honour the achievement and the people who made it happen is “a great opportunity to educate people about one of the great engineering projects of our nation.” Arthur’s Pass Committee member Fiona Neale, describes the building of the tunnel as “a remarkable achievement, celebrated across the world as a significant engineering project.”
An incredible feature was, that when the two ends of the tunnel broke through in 1918, the measurements were less than eleven centimetres out, this thanks to the brilliance of the surveyors using a complex set of theodolite stations on the mountain ridges between the tunnel entries. Government ministers travelled by ferry and train to Otira for the opening. For Fiona Neale this shows the importance of the project. “After years of wrangling, MPs wanting to celebrate the opening, showed how significant the tunnel opening was. It was a chance to show the world how New Zealand could compete on the world stage with such a huge engineering project.” Commemoration co-ordinator Diane Gordon Burns from Otira, says the commemoration is “a great time to remember the hundreds of women, children, and men who lived near the tunnel at both ends in difficult circumstances to see the job done.” Work on the tunnel began in 1908, with the original contactors giving up after union and financial problems, handing the project to the Government just in time for the First World War, depression and the influenza epidemic that followed. So by August the 4th 1923, the tunnel was lined with a million concrete blocks made on site, tracks laid, the electric power houses and new electric engines tested and running, the time had arrived. Next year’s salute to the tunnel opening will see several hundred people, including it is hoped the Prime Minister and other ministers, descendants of construction families, engineers, west and east coasters, and KiwiRail staff at the western tunnel mouth for a fitting commemoration of what is still one of the country’s largest infrastructure projects. Simon Williams.
