Maia Hart14:00, May 25 2021
Supplied
The new track under State Highway 1 at Tar Barrel is now being used by trains, at the end of a two-year project.
The oldest train tunnel on the Main North Line is officially retired. But it won’t be a long retirement. The 108-year-old Tar Barrel Tunnel will soon be filled with dirt and concreted over, as a new stretch of track, bypassing the tunnel, joins the rail network. The $35 million project to replace the 108-year-old Tar Barrel Tunnel involved laying a kilometre of new track and rerouting State Highway 1 in south Marlborough, with KiwiRail working alongside Waka Kotahi NZTA
Press Release – KiwiRail Trains running between Picton and Christchurch are now using a new stretch of rail track that bypasses the oldest tunnel on the line, bringing greater resilience to the key freight and tourism corridor.
Tuesday, 25 May 2021, 2:24 pm
Trains running between Picton and Christchurch are now
using a new stretch of rail track that bypasses the oldest
tunnel on the line, bringing greater resilience to the key
freight and tourism corridor.
Rail track and sleepers
are removed from Tar Barrel Tunnel, before it is filled with
mudstone and permanently sealed off
KiwiRail, working
with Waka Kotahi NZTA, has built one kilometre of new track
and a new road overpass for State Highway One just south of
Ward in Marlborough to bypass the 108-year-old Tar Barrel
Tunnel.
KiwiRail’s Group Chief Executive Greg Miller
says the work has strengthened the key freight route used to