TIMBERING AND WATER
Temporary timbering was used throughout the Otira tunnel to prevent flaking of the rock-surface, and fairly heavy timber was necessary in some of the worst places where faults in the rock structure were encountered. The ground was sometimes dry, commonly wet, and occasionally very wet; but the tunnel was pierced without striking any very great volume of water necessitating special methods such as were employed in the construction of the Simplon and other long tunnels. The great-est-flow of water was about 3000 gallons a minute, but as the lining was completed this was considerably reduced and the present flow is about iSOO gallons a minute.
A recent visitor to the tunnel writes-J-he sound" of water is inaudible when the locomotives are passing through the tunnel, but when they stop the noise of water resembles a heavy rainfall. The amount of water coming from the tunnel drainage at the Otira, end' is very large. In the circumstances, it need scarcely .be added that the electrical equipment is designed for wet conditions.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 30, 4 August 1923, Page 13
Word Count
173TIMBERING AND WATER Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 30, 4 August 1923, Page 13
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