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Story: Canterbury places

Building the Ōtira tunnel

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Building the Ōtira tunnel

One of New Zealand’s great engineering feats was the construction of a railway tunnel beneath the Southern Alps, providing a route to the West Coast that was an alternative to the Arthur’s Pass road. These men are starting work on the tunnel in 1908. Breakthrough was not achieved until 1918, and the tunnel did not open until 1923.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: 1/2-056630; F

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

John Wilson, Canterbury places – Porters Pass to Arthur’s Pass, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/10255/building-the-otira-tunnel (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by John Wilson, published 2 March 2009, updated 17 August 2015.