Hoosac Tunnel

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Hoosac Tunnel

The east portal of the Hoosac Tunnel in 2024
Overview
Line	PAS Freight Main Line
Location	Florida, Massachusetts
Status	Operating
System	Pan Am Southern
Operation
Work begun	1851 (1851) [1]
Constructed	1851–1873[1]
Opened	February 9, 1875 (1875-02-09)[1]
Owner	Pan Am Southern LLC
Operator	Norfolk Southern, CSX Transportation
Traffic	Train
Character	Freight
Technical
Length	25,081 feet (7,645 m) long[1]
No. of tracks	Single
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Operating speed	25 miles per hour (40 km/h)
Tunnel clearance	20 feet (6.1 m)[1]
Width	24 feet (7.3 m)[1]
Hoosac Tunnel
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	From North Adams on the West to the Deerfield River on the East
Coordinates	42°40′30″N 73°2′43″W / 42.67500°N 73.04528°W / 42.67500; -73.04528
NRHP reference No.	73000294[2]
Added to NRHP	November 2, 1973

The Hoosac Tunnel (also called Hoosic or Hoosick Tunnel) is a 4.75-mile (7.64 km) active railroad tunnel in western Massachusetts that passes through the Hoosac Range, an extension of Vermont's Green Mountains. It runs in a straight line from its east portal, along the Deerfield River in the town of Florida, to its west portal, in the city of North Adams.

Work began in 1851^[1] under an estimated cost of $2 million and ended in 1875, having used $21 million. At its completion, the tunnel was the world's second-longest, after the 8.5-mile (13.7 km) Mont Cenis Tunnel through the French Alps. It was the longest tunnel in North America until the 1916 completion of the Connaught Tunnel under Rogers Pass in British Columbia.^[3] It remains the longest active transportation tunnel east of the Rocky Mountains, and as of 1989^[update] is the sixth-longest railroad tunnel in North America. The American Society of Civil Engineers made the tunnel an Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1975.

"Hoosac" is an Algonquian word meaning "place of stones".