This is the Whittier tunnel, and the picture is from the Whittier side (you go through this end to get back to the rest of the world). This tunnel is the only land-access point to the town of Whittier, Alaska. It is both a road and rail tunnel, and is only wide enough for single-lane access, so there are scheduled times for rail traffic and road traffic in either direction. I had the single most terrifying experience in my life so far when I was coming into Whittier from the opposite direction...when I drove up to the toll booth, I had just missed the last scheduled entry period from my end. Thus, I drove up to the stoplight, and prepared to wait the 1.5 hours for my time to come again. All of a sudden, the light turned green. Now, I wasn't sure if that meant that I should go or not, but I decided to go through. It threw me for a loop when I realized that it was a one-tunnel-serves-both directions, but I pressed on anyways, kinda nervous but still enjoying the experience.

Then I saw a light at the end of the tunnel.

Being that it was foggy outside and not that bright, that was not a re-assuring thing. As I drew closer, I was able to confirm that YES, that WAS a train, and NO, I was not sure in my mind that he knew that someone had been let through on the other end. I kept running through my mind "am I ready to die?" and the answer was strong: "nope!" I finally pulled off in one of the emergency pulloffs in the tunnel and called the helpline, where they reassured me that the train was waiting for me to come out. I bet that guy had his headlight on on purpose, the likkle so-and-so...

Anyways, the moral of this story is to be on time and not rely on slotting in on the last minute :)