Otira Railway station spick and span for Centennial
It has been a long time coming, but the 123-year-old Otira Railway station is standing proud again. A team of painters has left, with this historic building looking set for its next 100 years.
The work was ordered by KiwiRail as the station is to be the centrepiece of the Otira Tunnel Centennial celebrations in early August. The 8.5-kilometre tunnel, the country’s largest engineering project at the time, took 15 years to build between 1908 and 1923.
The station building is now gleaming in cream, with red detailing and green platform roof supports. These colours were chosen as a replication of the colour scheme that the station might have been painted in when new.
David Jackways, KiwiRail’s Engineering Process Project Director in Christchurch, said there was discussion about the colours. “The choices were between our standard grey and red, but we felt it would be better to match historic colour schemes”.
KiwiRail’s Otira staff use the station each day, otherwise, it is a stopping place for the Tranz Alpine on its journey to and from the West Coast.
A large crowd is expected to be part of a replica tunnel opening ceremony to be held at the station, but there will be bus tours to the mouth of the tunnel, on the site of one of the construction camps, along with the unveiling of special signs and a plaque.
Text and images: Simon Williams, Centennial Committee Media Liaison
