Bridge over the line

The bridge over the line

Detail of a pylon top

Coordinates: 48 ° 11 ′ 16.9 ″  N , 16 ° 20 ′ 17.4 ″  E

Bridge over the line​

Vienna

The bridge over the line , also known as the bridge over the Gumpendorfer line , Wiental bridge or Otto Wagner bridge , was designed by Otto Wagner in 1894/1895 and built with the two bridges to the north as part of the belt line of the Viennese steam light railway opened in 1898 and finally built Used in 1925 by the Vienna Electric Light Rail, which was set up as a replacement . It spans the Linke Wienzeile , the Wienfluss and the Untere Wientallinie of the Stadtbahn. Another bridge south of the river was demolished in the course of the 1985-1989 conversion of the belt line to the U6 underground line . Together, the bridge over the Mollardgasse , the bridge over the Mariahilfer Gürtel , already called the Sechshauser Gürtel at the time of construction , and the bridge over the line describe an arch that turns from north to west over a distance of 250 meters.

Bridges (north to south)

One of the design specifications for the urban railway lines that Otto Wagner set up as the artistic advisory board of the client, the Imperial and Royal Railway Ministry , and as a designer and designer commissioned by the latter, was the observance of horizontal lines in the various structures.

The foundations of the bridges were carried out by Union-Baugesellschaft , only the central pillar of the bridge over the line was founded by Doderer & Göhl . The steel structures come from the Oesterreichisch-Alpine Montan-Gesellschaft .

Bridge over the Mollardgasse

The bridge over Mollardgasse is located between the two carriageways of the Vienna Belt (here west, south travel: Sechshauser Gürtel , named 1894; east of it, north travel: Gumpendorfer Gürtel , named 1965) and spans the extension of Mollardgasse ( 6th district ) to Ullmannstraße ( 15th district ). From 1970–1989, tram line 8 operated by Wiener Linien crossed the tram line here.

The bridge was built using parallel beams with a clear width of 30.65 meters and a height of 3.80 meters. The distance between the carrier axes is 9.2 meters.

Bridge over the Mariahilfer Gürtel

The bridge over the Mariahilfer Gürtel , with a length of 64.75 meters, crosses the belt section in the Graumanngasse area, which was renamed during the design phase in 1894 (it was used in both directions until 1967, since then only in the south).

In this construction phase, the axis of the double track describes a radius of 150 meters, so that with this length a bridge width that is hardly feasible would have been created. Therefore, the main part of the bridge was placed on 5.86 meter high iron piers and integrated into the route at both ends by means of connectors bent against the longitudinal axis. The pillars sit on concrete foundations where they are anchored with screws.

Bridge over the line

Bridge over the Row, 1898

The building as an eye-catcher on the cover of the 1910 Vienna Stadtbahn game

The bridge over the line , visible from afar , the most technically and artistically elaborate of the three bridges, spans the Linke Wienzeile with its northern half , which, according to Otto Wagner's plans, was to be expanded to the Wienboulevard as a connection from Karlsplatz on the edge of the city center to Schönbrunn Palace . The southern section crosses the Vienna river vaulting, which runs eastwards from here and was built around the same time, on which the belt and the Vienna line intersect with a large amount of space .

A bridge pillar inclined by 39 degrees 7 degree minutes to the longitudinal axis of the bridge divides the 112 meter clear width of the bridge structure into two openings of equal length. The section to the north of the pillar crosses the Linke Wienzeile, while the southern section spans a vaulted vault of the Vienna River that began here and was built around the same time.

This central pillar not only functions as a bridge pillar, but also serves as a common abutment for the vaults of the Vienna and the Wiental route of the Stadtbahn (today line U4 ) and extends 12.2 meters below the level of the carriageway.

The two end pillars of the bridge are clad with stone blocks and each carry two pylons made of granite, which tower over the support height of the bridge by 13.7 meters. In order to maintain Otto Wagner's demand for horizontal lines, the railway line, which had an original gradient of 10 per thousand, was hidden behind a sheet metal wall decorated with man-made iron.

The bridge consists of parallel girders with a height of 5.95 meters with box straps and a simply crossed system. The cross girders of the bridge construction follow the incline of the track system and support a hump slab surface by means of 0.65 meter high longitudinal girders and secondary cross girders. The track's ballast bed is bordered on the side by end girders. The two-sided footpaths intended for control purposes are covered with boards that are laid on tinplate . The clearance above the level of the left Wienzeile is around eight meters.

At the southern end of the bridge over the row are fixed, while on the central pillar and at the northern end movable steel tilt bearings are attached.

Demolition plans

Before the conversion to subway operation

In 1980 the political decision was made to include the previous belt line of the Vienna light rail system in the Vienna underground network . However, the future U6 was not to be linked to the Wiental line of the Stadtbahn at the Meidling Hauptstraße station as before and continued to Hütteldorf , but to reach the Wiental line at the closer Längenfeldgasse in a new level station to be built, then cross under it and continue in led south to Siebenhirten .

However, the bridge over the row stood in the way of this project and should therefore be demolished. This measure was justified by the fact that

• the new ramp to be built between the bridge and the new Längenfeldgasse station would have to be much steeper,
• the radius of the arch adjoining the bridge would have to be much smaller, the trains would have to brake and the screeching wheels would cause greater noise pollution and
• the bridge is no longer able to withstand the weight of the modern subway trains due to material fatigue .

The threatening alternatives mentioned were the demolition of over a hundred apartments or the hanging of a falling bridge structure in the existing one, which was rejected as the most expensive option. Another possibility was seen in building a new bridge and bypassing the bridge over the row with it.

The Bundesdenkmalamt (Federal Monuments Office) , which was concerned with the question of whether the bridge over the line should be preserved , issued a decision on April 21, 1982 in favor of the continued existence of the bridge, while the responsible city councilor Rudolf Wurzer first decided to demolish it and then build a bypass bridge while preserving the now functionless Wientalbrücke advocated.

The projects submitted in a subsequent architectural competition did not fully meet the expectations of the jury, but a project by the architects Thomas Reinthaller, Erich Traxler and Franz Requat and the qualified engineer Ernst Heintz was still to be revised and pursued.

The architects Adolf Krischanitz and Otto Kapfinger also received a prize for a two-span main bridge over the Wienfluss and Wienzeile and a further, adjoining bridge with five spans with a lower overall height and smaller span. This steel bridge, the supporting structure of which was to be clad with stainless steel or aluminum, was to wind around the bridge over the row to the east and function as part of the ramp.

Two projects were not awarded the prize which, by editing the route, showed that the Otto Wagner Bridge could be kept in function, one by the U-Bahn working group ( Wilhelm Holzbauer , Heinz Marschalek, Georg Ladstätter, Bert Gantar) with Johann Stella, Walter Stengel, the other from Hermann Czech with Heinrich Mittnik, the latter even while maintaining the standard expansion speed. The arguments for maintaining the bridge could be based on these projects.

The plan to demolish the bridge over the row or turn it into a functionless museum bridge did not go unchallenged. Among other things, the Austrian Society for Architecture , the Austrian Art Senate and the Austrian section of the International Art Critics Association turned against the inoperative.

Current usage

At the beginning of 1984 the new city councilor for urban planning, Fritz Hofmann , had a new variant examined, through which the bridge over the row could continue to function. At the beginning of June of the same year it was finally announced that the Wiental Bridge would be preserved. The Längenfeldgasse station was shifted slightly to the west and the steeper gradient was accepted in the interests of monument protection . It is not known what role the 1983 change in the responsible city council played.

In the course of the adaptation work for the underground operation - the gradient of the track systems had to be increased and the parallelism of the tracks to the bridge axis was abandoned - the bridge over the line was completely renovated. In 2007/2008 the bridge was renovated again. On this occasion, the numerous decorative, man-high laurel wreaths made of cast zinc were dismantled and restored.

literature

• Vienna at the beginning of the XX. Century - A guide in the technical and artistic direction , published by the Austrian Association of Architects, Verlag von Gerlach & Wiedling, Vienna, 1903
• Technical guide through Vienna , published by the Austrian Association of Engineers and Architects, edited by Ing. Martin Paul (urban planning inspector), Vienna, published by Gerlach & Wiedling, 1910
• DEHIO Vienna - X. to XIX. and XXI. to XXIII. District , Anton Schroll & Co, Vienna, 1996, ISBN 3-7031-0693-X
• Wolfdietrich Ziesel : Bau Kunst Ingenieur - The Art of Civil Engineering , Edition Seitenberg, Vienna, 1989, ISBN 3-9010-3600-8
• Robert Schediwy : City images - reflections on the change in architecture and urbanism. Vienna, 2005, ISBN 3825877558
• Ludwig Varga: The bridge over the row - Otto Wagner Bridge in: Crossings in Meidling - Part 2. Vienna River Bridges. Sheets of the Meidlinger Bezirksmuseum, Vienna 2006, issue 66, pp. 68–78.

Web links

Commons : bridge across the line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Bridge over the line

Individual evidence

1. ↑ U6 makes Wagner Bridge functionless - Federal Monuments Office is checking. The worry bridge over the river Wien . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna April 1, 1981, p. 10 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
2. ↑ Otto Wagner's concept of the Wientalbrücke is retained: the overall impression has hardly changed . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna March 5, 1983, p. 27 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
3. ^ Wolfdietrich Ziesel: Building art engineer
4. ^ Architecture competitions, issue 29/30, April 1983. Heinz Geretsegger, Max Peintner: Otto Wagner , 1983 edition.
5. ↑ Architekturgesellschaft zur Otto Wagner Bridge: Discussion about the competition . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna March 24, 1983, p. 11 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
6. ↑ OTTO WAGNER BRIDGE. Another chance to save . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 8, 1984, p. 6 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
7. ↑ U 4 and U 6 will drive over historically valuable bridges. Decision: Wagner Bridge remains . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna June 2, 1984, p. 9 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
8. ↑ Laurel wreaths for Otto Wagner Bridge (ORF Vienna, February 13, 2008)