<p>Tranz Rail spent the first two weeks of this month carrying out extensive tunnelling work on the Paekakariki main trunk line, making it possible for hi-cube containers to be railed between Palmerston North and Wellington.</p> <p>Lines were lowered, roofs raised and track realigned in five tunnels in an attempt to remove significant volumes of freight from road.</p> <p>Hi-cubes make up about 40% of all containerised freight, but height restrictions in the tunnels meant these containers had to be transhipped on road from Palmerston North.</p> <p>Tranz Rail also had a limited number of specialist low-load wagons for this work.</p> <p>General manager sales and marketing Craig Stapleton said: “That should immediately remove about 60 to 70 trucks a week from the road between Palmerston North and Wellington, and should also have a flow-on effect for freight customers further north who may now look more favourably on rail as a direct option to and from Wellington.”</p> <br />