Check out the village at the top of the Alp’s, the viaduct and rail tunnel.

Check out the village at the top of the Alp’s, the viaduct and rail tunnel.

For those who have not had the opportunity to visit Arthur’s Pass village, I have copied and pasted in an article below worth checking out and it includes some links to great your adventurous juices running. Following the article I have written some details re the Otira viaduct and the tail tunnel both of which are amazing engineering and construction accomplishments, the rail tunnel in the early nineteen hundreds and the viaduct at the end of the nineteen hundreds.

If you’re traveling from Canterbury to the West Coast, this is the road to take. It is a piece of extreme engineering involving viaducts, bridges, rock shelters and waterfalls redirected into chutes.

Arthur’s Pass National Park itself is a landscape of two halves. On the eastern side you'll see wide, shingle-filled riverbeds and vast swathes of beech forest. Descend the western side and you venture through dense rainforest alongside and over deeply gorged rivers. Take in the scenic views on the renowned Tranz Alpine rail service.

If you're feeling adventurous, go hiking or mountaineering. You'll probably spot New Zealand’s inquisitive and comical alpine parrot, the kea, along the way. And during winter you can join the lucky skiers and snowboarders enjoying spectacular runs in the Temple Basin Ski Area.

Arthur’s Pass village is one of the highest settlements in the country. Here you can gaze into the historic Otira rail tunnel – an epic engineering feat through 8.5 kilometres of rock. If you need to stretch your legs, walk the one hour return journey to the Devil's Punchbowl Falls. And if you feel like staying a while, the village has a choice of accommodation, cafés and shops.

The Otira rail tunnel.

Work on the tunnel which runs from Otira to Arthur’s Pass village a distance of just over 8.5 kilometres commenced in 1907. Drilling and blasting through the solid rock under the Southern Alp’s was the method used to create the tunnel. The tunnel climbs to a height of 250 metres above Otira, so a number of options were investigated such as a cable car, using the fell system or the rack and rail system before the tunnel was decided on to be constructed at a 1 to 33 metre gradient.

The tunnel was finally completed in 1918 but not before the original company commissioned to build the tunnel faced financial ruin as the cost of the tunnel was over twice the tender. The government at the time was unsuccessful in tendering the project out again and the public works took over completing the tunnel.

At one point during construction world war one had broken out and there were calls for construction to be halted but the government said no as there were concerns that the German navy would blockade the West Coast ports for shipment of coal and the tunnel would allow coal to be transported to the West Coast.

The tunnel required another 3 years after completion to have a concrete lining installed and it was opened for use in 1921.

A small coal powered station was built at Otira in the early days as the tunnel was electrified to aid the locomotives in getting up the steep gradient

The cost of putting the tunnel through was twice the tender being !.2 million in today’s currency due to the slow progress through solid rock.

You can now travel the railway line and through the tunnel on the Tranz Alpine, these days once the train enters the tunnel a door closes behind the train and a huge extractor fan kicks into gear to extract the fumes. The build-up of both Carbon Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide were always a real hazard in the tunnel in earlier years due to its length. At the time of its completion it was the seventh longest tunnel in the world and the longest in the British Empire.

The Otira viaduct.

Work commenced on the viaduct in 1997.

The road prior to the viaduct and bridge plus rock shelters between Otira and Arthur’s Pass village was a very dangerous piece of road requiring continual maintenance as it zig zagged up the steep rock face, rock falls were a continual hazard and flooding. The area is part of the Southern Alps fault line so seismic movements were a common occurrence.

The viaduct is a huge structure taking almost three years to complete at a cost of $25 million which include a separate 30 metre bridge, rock cages and shelter, redirecting waterfalls into specially formed shuts and trying to keep the area from as much environment damage as possible being part of Arthur’s Pass National Park.

The viaduct is 440 metres in length

If your enjoying reading this series, please leave a small comment as I cannot see at present how many are clicking the like button. Thanks to those who have left a comment.

My next Blog will take you from Arthur’s Pass village to Springfield across Porters Pass at a height of 939 metres.

Kind regards,
Phil.



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