# Otira Tunnel

The Otira Tunnel is a railway tunnel on the Midland Line in the South Island of New Zealand, between Otira and Arthur's Pass. It runs under the Southern Alps from Arthur's Pass to Otira – a length of over 8.5 kilometres (5.3 mi). The gradient is mainly 1 in 33, and the Otira end of the tunnel is over 250 m (820 ft) lower than the Arthur's Pass end.

## Construction

Construction commenced in 1907 and a "breakthrough" celebration was held on 21 August 1918 by the Minister of Public Works Sir William Fraser. When the tunnel opened on 4 August 1923, it was the seventh longest tunnel in the world and the longest in the British Empire.
The Midland Railway Company investigated alternatives to a long tunnel, but a line over the pass with gradients of 1 in 50 on both sides was not practical. Other options for a line over the pass were a cable-hauled system or a line of 1 in 15 gradient using either the Fell system or a rack railway using the Abt system (or even an S-shaped tunnel under Mount Rolleston). However, the government did not favour the Fell system as used on the Rimutaka Incline which was expensive to operate. After taking over the line the government decided in 1900 on a 10 km long straight tunnel with a gradient of 1 in 37, but after expert advice opted two years later for an 8.55 km tunnel at the slightly steeper gradient of 1 in 33.
A contract to build the tunnel in five years was let to the engineering firm of John McLean and Sons who started at the Otira end in 1908, using the "drill and blast" method. With progress difficult and slow McLeans asked to be relieved from the contract in 1912, and were financially ruined (the tunnel cost over twice the contract price of £599,794 ($1,200,000). The government could find no other tenderers, so the work was taken over by the Public Works Department. The government considered halting construction in World War I, but the Imperial Government requested that work should continue in case the German navy blockaded the West Coast ports used for coal shipment. The breakthrough was on 20 July 1918, but concrete lining took a further three years, and then two more years before the tunnel opened. There were eight fatalities during construction. Its opening was marked by the British and Intercolonial Exhibition.

## Electrification

The tunnel dimensions were 4.72 metres (15 ft 6 in) high and 4.27 metres (14 ft 0 in) wide at rail level, increasing to 4.57 metres (15 ft 0 in) at the widest point. Because of its length and gradient, gases such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide could easily build up, potentially making the tunnel both unhealthy for the train's occupants and unworkable with steam engines. Hence the tunnel was electrified with a 1500 V DC overhead system.
Tenders for electrification of the 14 km Otira-Arthur’s Pass section through the tunnel were received in 1920 from the National Electric Company of New York, and English Electric of London; English Electric obtained the order for five locomotives plus a battery-powered shunting locomotive No E1 (which was scrapped in 1930 because of the cost of storage batteries), plus power plant and overhead catenary (14 km main line plus 8 km of yard sidings).
The coal-fired power plant of 3,000 kW output was for a maximum load of 1,500 kW averaged over half an hour with peaks up to 1,875 kW. The boilers had to build up from low pressure to maximum in 2 to 3 minutes when a train started. The estimated total energy was 1,029,000 kWh (kilowatt hours) per annum plus 10% for train lighting and loco controls and 160,000 kWh for workshops and villages at Arthur’s Pass and Otira.
In 1941 the power plant was replaced by a mercury arc rectifier station at the Otira portal using power supplied from the Coleridge Power Station by an 11 kV line. In the 1970s the mercury arc rectifiers were replaced by silicon diode rectifiers and the double catenary overhead was replaced by a single catenary.
In 1916 the option of electrifying the 100 km from Jacksons to Springfield had been considered, and with increased coal traffic in the 1950s and again in the 1980s electrification to Jacksons or even Moana was considered. Proposals of the 1950s envisaged electrification at 25kV 50 Hz; later proposals would have used surplus EF class locomotives from the North Island Main Trunk converted to 11 kV operation. But none of these plans proceeded.
Locomotives used were first the EO class, then from 1968 the EA class (itself later reclassified EO). In 1988, trials began using DX class locomotives instead of electric locomotives. While the trials were unsuccessful, it was found in trials held in 1991 that upgrading the DX locomotives with new air intakes and putting extraction fans on the Otira end of the tunnel could allow for the replacement of the electrification.
Because of the increasing age of the electric plant and the availability of upgraded DX class diesel locomotives, the electrification was decommissioned in 1997 and the equipment removed. This marked the end of electrification in the South Island. To overcome the fume problem, a combination of a door and fans are used, similar to that used in the Cascade Tunnel in the United States of America, which was also once electrified. After a train enters the tunnel from the Otira end the door closes off the entrance, and a large fan extracts the fumes behind the train. Once the fumes have been extracted, the door is reopened. Because of the fumes, the TranzAlpine's observation cars are closed for the trip through the tunnel.