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Otira is a small township seven kilometres north of Arthur's Pass in the central South Island of New Zealand. It lies on the western approach to the pass, which is in a saddle between the Otira and Bealey Rivers.
Close to the town are two major feats of civil engineering. The Otira Rail Tunnel, constructed between 1908 and 1923, runs under the mountains of the Southern Alps from Arthur's Pass to Otira - a length of a little over 8500 metres. The gradient is close to 1 in 30, and as such the Otira end of the tunnel is significantly lower than the Arthur's Pass end (a drop of over 250 metres). At the time of its construction, it was one of the longest rail tunnels in the world.
Above the town of Otira is the other engineering feat, the Otira Viaduct. Completed in 1999, this spans a 440 metre stretch of unstable land, replacing a narrow, winding road which had been constantly prone to avalanches and slips.
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