Bietigheimer railway viaduct
Coordinates: 48 ° 57 ′ 18 ″ N , 9 ° 7 ′ 50 ″ E
| Bietigheimer railway viaduct | ||
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| use | Railway bridge | |
| Crossing of | Enz | |
| place | Bietigheim-Bissingen | |
| construction | Arch bridge | |
| overall length | 287 m | |
| height | 33 m | |
| start of building | 1851 | |
| completion | 1853 | |
| location | ||
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The Bietigheim Railway Viaduct is a railway bridge over the Enz Valley near Bietigheim-Bissingen and one of the city's landmarks. It was built from 1851 to 1853 as part of the Württemberg Westbahn Bietigheim– Bruchsal under the direction of building officer Karl Etzel .
The construction of the Westbahn as the first railway connection between Württemberg and Baden was preceded by numerous planning variants and it was politically controversial. A connection from Heilbronn to Wiesloch would have been favorable for Württemberg, but Baden preferred a connection via Durlach to Pforzheim. A viable compromise was a branch from the northern line in Tamm or in Bietigheim. The route should lead over Bretten and connect to the Baden rail network in Bruchsal . Etzel favored Bietigheim as a starting point due to the more favorable terrain and the favorable transition over the Enz, even if this solution made a daring bridge construction necessary.
Etzel initially wanted to build a wooden bridge on stone pillars, but then chose a completely bricked construction. The viaduct has two rows of arches. It is about 287 meters long, about 33 meters high and has 21 arches that span the Enz Valley. The width of the vault is 7.45 meters at the top, the clear width 11.46 meters. The structure was put into operation on September 20, 1853 together with the Western Railway. It was the most elaborate individual structure of the Royal Württemberg State Railways .
In 1925 a trade and industrial exhibition was held below the viaduct. On the occasion of this exhibition, the city of Bietigheim revived the Bietigheim horse market , which has been held annually at the beginning of September on the fairground under the viaduct. At the end of the horse market, the arches of the viaduct are illuminated with Bengali light every year.
Due to the increased volume of rail traffic and the increased axle loads , the viaduct had to be reinforced from 1928 to 1929. The Deutsche Reichsbahn widened the roadway. At the beginning of the 20th century there were plans to relieve the bridge and the Bietigheim train station from some of the heavy traffic. To this end, a second viaduct was planned to connect Metterzimmer and Tamm directly with one another, bypassing the Bietigheim train station. Shortly before the Second World War , these plans were resumed for strategic reasons and the first construction measures were taken, which came to a standstill when the war broke out.
During the fortification of the Neckar-Enz position in 1935, explosive chambers were built into several pillars of the viaduct in order not to let the bridge fall into enemy hands in the event of an invasion. During the Second World War, the viaduct was initially spared attacks until it was bombed several times in February / March 1945. However, the damage caused by the air raids could be repaired. When French troops approached the town of Bietigheim on April 8, 1945, the old town west of the Enz was evacuated by German troops without a fight, but all of the Enz bridges were blown up. The Enz viaduct was made unusable by blowing up the five western pillars.
After the war, the bridge was temporarily repaired by US pioneers by bridging the destroyed pillars with a steel structure that went into operation on June 16, 1945. However, the auxiliary construction turned out to be inadequate, especially since the foundation of the bridge had been damaged by the destruction. For this reason, a temporary 317 meter long, single-track steel bridge was built immediately to the north, to which traffic was diverted from November 16, 1946.
In April 1947, construction work began to restore the viaduct. The damaged pillars were rebuilt with concrete. One of the arched openings concerned was completely closed with concrete to stabilize the bridge structure longitudinally . The reopening of the viaduct took place on August 28, 1949. The foundations and abutments of the emergency bridge are still preserved. A memorial stone on one of the foundations today reminds of the destruction and reconstruction of the Bietigheim railway viaduct.
The viaduct has been under contact wire since May 18, 1952, and since 1958 trains from Stuttgart to Karlsruhe and Mannheim over the viaduct have been continuously possible with electric traction. As a result, the bridge, as part of Germany's southernmost east-west railroad, had to accommodate up to 370 trains a day. Relief was only achieved in 1991 with the opening of the Mannheim – Stuttgart high-speed line , which has been used for long-distance passenger transport on the Stuttgart – Mannheim / –Karlsruhe route since then .
literature
- Jörg Schlaich, Matthias Schüller: Engineering manager Baden-Württemberg . Bauwerk Verlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-934369-01-4 .
- Hermann Roemer: On the 100th anniversary of the Bietigheim Enzviadukt . In: Hie gut Württemberg, September 1953.
- Peter Goette: 150 years of the Bietigheim Enz Viaduct . In: Eisenbahn-Kurier 37, 2003/9, pages 70-73.
- Regina Ille-Kopp: For the 150th anniversary of the Enz Valley Viaduct near Bietigheim-Bissingen . In: Schwäbische Heimat 54, 2003, pages 182-198.
- The viaduct near Bietigheim over the Enz on the Württemberg. Railroad. : Allgemeine Bauzeitung , year 1856, p. 262 (online at ANNO ).
- The viaduct over the Enz near Bietigheim. : Allgemeine Bauzeitung , year 1856, p. 315 (online at ANNO ).
- Plan drawings, pages 60–62. : Allgemeine Bauzeitung , year 1856, pp. 60–62 (online at ANNO ).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Andreas M. Räntzsch: Württembergische railroad history. Volume 1: 1830-1854. Planning phase and implementation of the building project . H&L publications, Schweinfurt 1996, ISBN 3-928786-36-9 , p. 137 .