A 150-year-old rail tunnel on Tasmania’s main freight corridor has reopened after a major renewal of its track.
TasRail has finished upgrading the track inside the Rhyndaston Tunnel, a 955-metre tunnel in the Midlands and the longest rail tunnel in the state.
The tunnel has carried trains since the 1870s. It sits on the rail line linking the north and south of Tasmania.
TasRail’s general manager of projects Josh Marshall said the tunnel was a key link between the two ends of the state.
“We have no other option, so this tunnel is very important to maintain and keep open,” Marshall said.
Crews spent several months replacing the track, ballast, sleepers and rails.
They also installed galvanised sleepers and new materials built to cope with the dark, damp conditions underground.
Marshall said the tunnel was unlike any other worksite on the network.
“Within the tunnel it’s very different to normal track conditions,” he said.
“We have no light and a lot of moisture that can’t move away.”
The track stayed open to trains during the works, so crews had to fit in around services.
That slowed progress to about 20 metres of new track a day.
Marshall said clearance was another challenge, because the team used bigger rail but could not make the tunnel any larger.
“It’s quite important for us to maintain the clearances within the tunnel to ensure the containers can still pass through safely,” he said.
He said the project used local contractors and quarries, with sleepers galvanised in the state and ballast trucked in from nearby.
The work was carried out by Shaw Contracting under the Tasmanian Freight Rail Revitalisation Program.
