Hoosac Tunnel
The Hoosac Tunnel (also called Hoosic or Hoosick Tunnel) is a 4.75-mile (7.64 km) active railroad tunnel in western Massachusetts that passes through the Hoosac Range, an extension of Vermont's Green Mountains. It runs in a straight line from its east portal, along the Deerfield River in the town of Florida, to its west portal, in the city of North Adams.
The east portal of the Hoosac Tunnel in 2013 | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Line | PAS Freight Main Line |
| Location | Florida, Massachusetts |
| Status | Operating |
| System | Pan Am Southern |
| Operation | |
| Work begun | 1851 |
| Constructed | 1851–1873 |
| Opened | February 9, 1875 |
| Owner | Pan Am Southern LLC |
| Operator | Norfolk Southern, CSX Transportation |
| Traffic | Train |
| Character | Freight |
| Technical | |
| Length | 25,081 feet (7,645 m) long |
| No. of tracks | Single |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge |
| Operating speed | 25 miles per hour (40 km/h) |
| Tunnel clearance | 20 feet (6.1 m) |
| Width | 24 feet (7.3 m) |
Hoosac Tunnel | |
U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
| Location | From North Adams on the West to the Deerfield River on the East |
| Coordinates | 42°40′30″N 73°2′43″W |
| NRHP reference No. | 73000294 |
| Added to NRHP | November 2, 1973 |
Work began in 1851 under an estimated cost of $2 million and ended in 1875, having used $21 million. At its completion, the tunnel was the world's second-longest, after the 8.5-mile (13.7 km) Mont Cenis Tunnel through the French Alps. It was the longest tunnel in North America until the 1916 completion of the Connaught Tunnel under Rogers Pass in British Columbia. It remains the longest active transportation tunnel east of the Rocky Mountains, and as of 1989 is the sixth-longest railroad tunnel in North America. The American Society of Civil Engineers made the tunnel an Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1975.
"Hoosac" is an Algonquian word meaning "place of stones".