Rosh Hanikra train tunnels, Railway tunnel complex in Mateh Asher Regional Council, Israel
The Rosh Hanikra train tunnels are two railway tunnels joined by a bridge at the end of the coastal railway, passing beneath the Rosh Hanikra ridge. The southern tunnel is part of the Rosh Hanikra grottoes site and leads to the grotto path; the northern tunnel is sealed because the Israel-Lebanon border runs through it. The system is about 200 metres long.
After Britain took Lebanon from France in 1941, the coastal railway was extended from Haifa to Beirut and Tripoli to move troops and equipment. South African, Australian and New Zealand military units built the line in about eighteen months. The tunnels were cut by 40 Company of the South African Engineer Corps and inaugurated on 14 August 1942; an inscription above the southern portal records that year. On 14 March 1948 Carmeli Brigade fighters blew up the bridge between the tunnels.
The southern tunnel now forms part of the Rosh Hanikra grottoes site, and visitors pass through it on the way to the grotto trail. In the southern part of the northern tunnel, sealed at the border, an audiovisual presentation about the site is shown.
The southern tunnel is part of the Rosh Hanikra grottoes site, and it leads to the path through the grottoes; the northern tunnel is sealed because the Israel–Lebanon border runs through it. In the southern part of the northern tunnel there is a sound-and-light presentation about the site.
The two tunnels are joined by a bridge spanning one of the largest natural caves at Rosh Hanikra, so the railway crossed the grotto on a viaduct rather than through it. The southern tunnel now forms part of the Rosh Hanikra grottoes site, and its far end holds a sound-and-light presentation.
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