Lyttelton Rail Tunnel

Lyttelton Rail Tunnel

Heathcote portal of Lyttelton railway tunnel.
Overview
Line	Main South Line
Location	Christchurch, New Zealand
Coordinates	43°35′31″S 172°42′48″E / 43.59194°S 172.71333°E / -43.59194; 172.71333
Status	Open
Start	Lyttelton
End	Heathcote
Operation
Opened	9 December 1867
Owner	KiwiRail
Operator	KiwiRail
Technical
Line length	2.595 km (1.612 mi)
Track gauge	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) (1863–1876) 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) (1876–present)
Electrified	1500 V overhead (1929–1970)

The Lyttelton Rail Tunnel, initially called the Moorhouse Tunnel, links the city of Christchurch with the port of Lyttelton in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It is the country's oldest operational rail tunnel, and is on the Lyttelton Line, one of the first railways built by Canterbury Provincial Railways.

On completion in 1867 it became the first tunnel in the world to be taken through the side of an extinct volcano, and at 2.6 km (1.6 mi), the longest in the country.^[1] Its opening made the Ferrymead Railway, New Zealand's first public railway line, obsolete.