Redhill Tunnel is a railway tunnel passing under the eastern area of Redhill in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, Great Britain. It is on the 'Quarry Line' section of the Brighton Main Line and was constructed in 1899. The tunnel is in length but abuts on to a covered way under the

Redhill to Tonbridge Line Redhill may refer to: Places England * Redhill, Bournemouth, Dorset * Redhill, Herefordshire, a location * Redhill, Nottinghamshire * Redhill, Hook-a-Gate, Shropshire * Redhill, Sheriffhales, Shropshire * Redhill, Telford, a location in Shropsh ...

and Redhill sidings, giving a total length of . There is another Redhill Tunnel on the Midland Main Line south of Trent Junction.

History

The tunnel was built by the London Brighton and South Coast Railway as part of their line 'Quarry Line' designed to avoid the rail

bottleneck Bottleneck literally refers to the narrowed portion (neck) of a bottle A bottle is a narrow-necked container made of an impermeable material (such as glass, plastic or aluminium) in various shapes and sizes that stores and transports liquids ...

at Redhill railway station. Plans were drawn up by Charles L. Morgan, the Chief Engineer of the company. Authority for the new line was granted by the British Parliament in July 1896, and construction took place during 1898-9. The tunnel was opened on 8 November 1899 (1 April 1900 for passenger traffic). The lines through the tunnel were electrified in 1932 by the Southern Railway. A disaster in the tunnel was narrowly avoided in April 1918, when a munitions train carrying high explosives ran into some derailed wagons inside the tunnel. The entire munitions train was derailed filling a length of the tunnel with explosive debris, but fortunately there was no fire. It took forty hours to clear the line. p.102.

References

{{reflist Railway tunnels in England Buildings and structures in Surrey Tunnels completed in 1899 Tunnels in Surrey