Construction of the Skitube Alpine Railway

Ken Bilston, engineer and cross country skier, was the first to suggest a train tunnel as access to the snowfields. In doing so he pulled together the rack rail experience of Australian company Transfield and the world wide experience of Japanese company Kumagai NSW Pty Ltd to create the Perisher Skitube Joint Venture.

Construction began in the summer of 1984 and carried through a bitter winter. The preservation of wildlife was of primary concern with reforestation and the replacement of turf and trees as soon as possible. Ponds were created and clean water filtered from surface run off into the river. Recycled materials from excavations were used as much as possible.

To begin preparation for tunnelling, the Rock face of portal one (the tunnel entrance at Bullocks Flat) had to be prepared for boring and rocks and trees were removed leaving a clean bare face for the tunnel boring machine to work through.

Boring machine		The finished result of the Boring machine drilling through solid granite.

The Boring machine arrived in pieces but once connected chewed the way through the tough granite at quite an amazing pace. A laser beam guided the Boring Machine through the Ramshead Ranges to within 1 cm of the predetermined course when it broke through in Perisher Valley. A conveyor belt removed the tunnel's spoil for use as fill on the rail track and in the car parks. The tunnel was called the Bilston Tunnel and the first man through the tunnel was Tom Doherty tunnel manager from Kumagai NSW Pty Ltd.

At the same time work began from Bullocks, cut and cover excavation began in Perisher but had to move quickly, as the car park and structure were required to return to normal prior to the winter season's commencement.

Once again every precaution was taken to protect the natural environment with haybales placed along the Perisher Creek to prevent pollution, all run off water was filtered and turf replaced under the watchful eyes of the National Parks. The wall, floor and roof of the construction were completed as early snow fell in May.

The Perisher construction was opened the next spring and the next phase of tunnelling began on the Blue Cow Tunnel. Rock formation however was quite weak and tunnel arches called sets were put in place to prevent the tunnel from collapsing. Unstable rock formations prevented the use of the tunnel boring machine from the last portal (at Blue Cow) forcing traditional methods of drill and blasting to be maintained.

Construction was completed in March 1988 however the Skitube Alpine Railway was operational for the winter of 1987 with Skitube ferrying passengers from Bullocks to Perisher and a bus utilised for carrying passengers on to Blue Cow. A specially designed turntable was positioned at the end of the Blue Cow tunnel as the area was too narrow to manoeuvre buses into a return direction.