Milseburg tunnel
| Milseburg tunnel | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Eastern (upper) tunnel portal (northeast of Oberbernhards )
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| use | Cycle path tunnel , railway tunnel (former) | |||
| traffic connection | Milseburgradweg , Götzenhof – Wüstensachsen railway line (formerly) | |||
| place | Oberbernhardser Höhe ( Rhön ) | |||
| length | 1172 m | |||
| Number of tubes | 1 | |||
| business | ||||
| release | 1889 | |||
| location | ||||
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| Coordinates | ||||
| West portal | 50 ° 33 ′ 41 ″ N , 9 ° 53 ′ 27 ″ E | |||
| East portal | 50 ° 33'35 " N , 9 ° 54'26" E | |||
Map with all coordinates: The Milseburgtunnel is a railway tunnel on the former Götzenhof – Wüstensachsen railway near the Milseburg mountain in the Hessian part of the Rhön . When the railway line was converted into Milseburgradweg in 2003 , this 1172 meter long tunnel was provided with lighting for use by cyclists and pedestrians.
Geographical location
The Milseburgtunnel is located in the district of Fulda and crosses under the northern slope of the Oberbernhardser Höhe ( 661 m above sea level ), a northern foothill of the Milseburg mountain ( 835.2 m above sea level ) near Oberbernhards , which rises around 1.5 kilometers south of the tunnel . Within the Hessian Rhön Nature Park, it is located in the Rhön Biosphere Reserve at the apex of the former Rhön railway line from Fulda to Hilders or Tann .
The western tunnel entrance is hidden in the forest 2 km south-southeast of parent (southeasterly community part of Hofbieber ) at about the geographic coordinates 50 ° 33 '41 " N , 9 ° 53' 27" O . The eastern portal was about 450 meters north-east of Oberbernhards (west-southwest community part of Hilders ) exactly at the coordinates 50 ° 33 '35 " N , 9 ° 54' 26.4" O built.
history
The tunnel was built from 1887 to 1889 and commissioned in 1890.
In the Holy Week of 1945, shortly before the end of the Second World War , a 400-meter-long train of the High Command of the Wehrmacht West ( OKW ) with high-ranking officers and soldiers was standing in the bomb-proof Milseburg Tunnel, pulled by two locomotives . After the US army had already reached Fulda during its advance , the German soldiers sought protection in the Rhön when they withdrew from the western front in order to organize a counter-defense against the advancing Americans. The train consisted of command compartments, supply and sleeping cars. Billing took place in the surrounding villages. On the Maulkuppe one was radio station built that would connect to the High Command. In order to protect the train from low- flying aircraft , anti-aircraft guns were brought to the heights of Danzwiesen . During the day the train stood in the tunnel, at night it was pulled out to provide fresh air. This did not go unnoticed by the Americans, who then tried to make the tunnel portals and the railway line impassable by dropping bombs. When the telecommunications cables that had been laid were cut, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring was no longer in contact with the outside world and the other units on the train . On the night of Good Friday the train left the tunnel and drove towards Vacha . On April 6, 1945, the Americans moved into Kleinsassen near the west portal of the tunnel without any significant damage in the village.
In 1993 the railway was stopped, in 1995 the tracks were dismantled, and in 2003 the entire railway line including the tunnel to Milseburgradweg was rebuilt .
Cycle tunnel / bats
The Milseburg tunnel is illuminated during the day (only emergency lighting at night) and is monitored by video cameras for the safety of users. There are also emergency telephones in the tunnel with a direct connection to the police station in Hilders . It is only accessible and navigable from April 15 to October 31. In the rest of the time it is a resting place for bats and closed for their protection (also for pedestrians). Then users of the Milseburgradweg will have a 4-kilometer bypass route available. This means 145 additional vertical meters coming from the west or 112 additional vertical meters in the opposite direction. Temperatures between 8 and 10 ° C are almost constant inside the tunnel.
Western tunnel portal (south-southeast of Elters )
View into the illuminated Milseburg tunnel
Winter closure (east portal)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Fuldaer Zeitung of April 14, 2020 , accessed on April 18, 2020
- ↑ Route on the official website of the Milseburgradweg , accessed on April 24, 2020