Schaan – Buchs railway bridge

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Coordinates: 47 ° 9 ′ 52 "  N , 9 ° 29 ′ 26"  E ; CH1903:  seven hundred fifty-five thousand five hundred and seventy-six  /  225761

Schaan – Buchs railway bridge
Schaan – Buchs railway bridge
View to the south
use Railway bridge
Convicted Feldkirch – Buchs railway line
Crossing of Alpine Rhine
place Schaan (LI) - Buchs SG (CH)
construction steel
overall length 190 meters
completion April 5, 1935
opening April 5, 1935
location
Schaan – Buchs railway bridge (Switzerland)
Schaan – Buchs railway bridge

The Schaan – Buchs railway bridge is a single-track Rhine bridge on the Feldkirch – Buchs railway line . It is the only railway bridge between Liechtenstein and Switzerland .

First railway bridge

In the middle of the 19th century there were also efforts in the Principality of Liechtenstein to get a connection to the railway network. The Liechtenstein government preferred a railway line that crossed the entire country (to Balzers ), but in the end Liechtenstein and Austria agreed - in agreement with Switzerland - on a route from Feldkirch via Schaan to Buchs . To connect Schaan and Buchs, the construction of a railway bridge began in 1871 and on October 24, 1872 the first train ran between the two places. The bridge was created as a lattice construction made of iron with a double cross framework. In 1892 the bridge was reinforced for higher traffic loads.

Rhine flood in 1927

In order to reduce the risk of Rhine flooding, the dams along the Rhine were repeatedly increased in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. However, the various Rhine bridges were usually not raised immediately, so that the bridges were lower than the Wuhren. The Schaan-Buchs railway bridge was the deepest on the Liechtenstein section of the Rhine. This problem was also known to the Austrian Federal Railways , which accordingly intended to raise the Rhine bridge (further) by over one meter (initially planned for winter 1926/1927, then for winter 1927/1928).

But already in September 1927 an extraordinary flood of the Rhine occurred: On September 25, 1927, the water level rose so much that driftwood and other objects carried by the water accumulated on the railway bridge and wedged themselves in the iron girders. The Rhine dam was flooded and shortly afterwards a dam broke on the Liechtenstein side a little upstream of the bridge. The water masses flooded large parts of Schaan and the Liechtenstein Unterland and caused the largest natural disaster in the recent history of Liechtenstein. The Rhine bridge itself was badly damaged: the 32 meter long right bank front bridge had collapsed and the railway embankment leading to the Rhine bridge was destroyed over a length of 300 meters.

Emergency bridge 1927

With the interruption of the Buchs-Feldkirch railway line, international rail traffic from Zurich via St.Gallen-St. Margrethen to Feldkirch. In order to prevent the restoration of the Feldkirch-Buchs railway line from being delayed, the Austrian Federal Railways decided to add an emergency bridge to the partly existing bridge . It was decided not to rebuild the railway embankment that had been destroyed by the flooding and which led to the Rhine bridge, but to replace it with a temporary bridge. In particular, this should prevent the risk of new damage from renewed currency breaks. With this temporary extension, the railway bridge now reached a total length of 315 meters. Work began at the beginning of October and on November 17, 1927, the temporary bridge was opened for local and international train traffic.

New building

In order to meet new requirements (e.g. speed, load capacity), it was decided to replace the temporary bridge. From autumn 1934 onwards, the Austrian Federal Railways built a new railway bridge next to the temporary bridge. Around 90 wagons each with 10 tons of mild steel and 15 wagons of cement were delivered from Austria for the construction ; a total of around 350 Austrian workers were employed on the construction site. The 190 meter long steel bridge was supposed to be supported by the river pillar from 1870/1872. For this purpose, on April 5, 1935, the old bridge was pushed away using roller bearings and the new bridge was pushed in. The opening of the new railway bridge finally took place on the same day.

literature

  • Paul Vogt: Bridges to the Past. A text and work book on Liechtenstein history from the 17th to 19th centuries. Official teaching material publisher, Vaduz 1990.
  • Cornelia Herrmann: The art monuments of the Principality of Liechtenstein. The Oberland. In: Society for Swiss Art History GSK: The art monuments of Switzerland. Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-906131-85-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lothar Beer: Railway. In: Historical Lexicon of the Principality of Liechtenstein. Volume 1, 2013, 175-176.
  2. ^ Oehry Johann: Bridges over the Rhine. In: Eintracht, magazine for home and customs. Advent 2003, p. 19.
  3. ^ Cornelia Hermann: The art monuments of the Principality of Liechtenstein. The Oberland. 2007, p. 227.
  4. ↑ a b c d R. Kaiser: The lifting of the railway-Rhine bridge between Buchs and Schaan. In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung , Volume 91/92, Issue 8, 1928, p. 93.
  5. ↑ Peter Geiger: Times of Crisis. Liechtenstein in the 1930s. 1928-1939 . Vaduz, 1997, p. 84.
  6. ^ Oehry Johann: Bridges over the Rhine. In: Eintracht, magazine for home and customs. Advent 2003, p. 19.
  7. ↑ Peter Geiger: Times of Crisis. Liechtenstein in the 1930s. 1928-1939 . Vaduz, 1997, p. 84.
  8. ↑ a b A. Bühler: The emergency railway bridge between Buchs and Schaan. In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung , Volume 89/90, Issue 25, 1927, p. 320.
  9. ↑ A. Bühler: The railway emergency bridge between Buchs and Schaan. In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung , Volume 89/90, Issue 25, 1927, p. 321.
  10. ↑ A. Bühler: The railway emergency bridge between Buchs and Schaan. In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung , Volume 89/90, Issue 25, 1927, p. 324.
  11. ↑ Replacement of the railway bridge over the Rhine next to Buchs. In: Liechtenstein Fatherland. 04/03/1935, p. 3.
  12. ^ Cornelia Hermann: The art monuments of the Principality of Liechtenstein. The Oberland. 2007, p. 339.
  13. ↑ A work of technology. From the Schaan-Buchs railway bridge. In: Liechtensteiner Volksblatt. April 6, 1935, p. 1.