SBB Limmat Bridge Turgi

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Coordinates: 47 ° 29 ′ 39 "  N , 8 ° 14 ′ 56"  E ; CH1903:  661,062  /  two hundred sixty thousand six hundred and eighty

SBB Limmat Bridge Turgi
SBB Limmat Bridge Turgi
View after 1971 from the underwater side,
with the service channel at pillar height
use Railway bridge
Convicted
Line tracks SBB line 701
(Zurich HB–) Turgi – Koblenz – Waldshut
Subjugated River Limmat
place Turgi AG
km 27.874
Entertained by Swiss Federal Railways SBB
Building number Ref. 128
construction (Circular) arch bridge
segment: R = 19.242 m
overall length 90.5 m
width 10 m
Number of openings 3
Longest span 77.7 m
Pillar spacing 25.4 m
Clear width 22.35 m
Arrow height 4.2 m
Pillar strength 2.85 m end of
4.68 m foundation
Arrow ratio 1: 5.7
Construction height 2.03 m
height 11 m above mean water level
start of building 1857
completion 1859
opening August 18, 1859
construction time 1857-1859
planner Ferdinand Adolf Naeff for the Swiss Northeast Railway
location
SBB Limmat Bridge Turgi (Canton Aargau)
SBB Limmat Bridge Turgi
Above sea level 338.34  m

The SBB-Limmatbrücke Turgi is one of the oldest railway bridges still in operation in Switzerland.

The SBB Limmat Bridge Turgi is a bridge on the Turgi – Koblenz – Waldshut railway line and crosses the Limmat in the canton of Aargau . It is one of the oldest still used railway bridges in Switzerland .

It is located at route km 27.874 on line 702 ( Zurich HB -) Turgi - Koblenz - Swiss / Germany border - Waldshut of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), around 500 m west of Turgi station and on the municipal border between Turgi and Untersiggenthal . A good 1 km downstream, the Limmat flows into the Aare at the floodplain protection park of the canton Aargau in Switzerland's moated castle .

context

The first attempt in 1837, the cities of Zurich and Basel (on the right of the Limmat and on the left bank of the Rhine ) with a concession from the Canton of Aargau for the section through the lower Aare valley (with bridges in Spreitenbach over the Limmat and over the Aare in Döttingen ) to join ended three years later with a forced liquidation. The Zurich-Basel railway company failed because of financing problems, the resistance of the rural dwellers, who were upset by the impudence of their surveyors, and their fear of the new means of transport.

At the second attempt in 1845, however, for the connection via Waldshut and connection to the Badische Hauptbahn (left bank to the Limmat and right along the Rhine), the Swiss Northern Railway initially managed to build the section from Zurich to Baden, which opened two years later ( Spanish bread rolls -Bahn ). However, its further expansion came to a standstill for several years due to the Sonderbund War , financial difficulties and the revolution of 1848 in neighboring countries.

But in 1856, under its energetic President Alfred Escher , the Swiss Northeast Railway put the line extension from Baden to Brugg into operation. In the same year the government council of the canton Aargau approved the route from Turgi (with the Limmat bridge) to Koblenz on the Swiss border and the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1857 the connection in Waldshut to the Badische Hauptbahn.

With the opening of the Turgi – Waldshut line and the Basel – Waldshut ( Hochrheinbahn ) line on the right bank of the Rhine in August 1859, Zurich and Basel - and thus Switzerland and Germany - were connected by rail for the first time.

The construction of the bridge

Ferdinand Adolf Naeff
and display information about the image
View and plan view of the Limmat Bridge Turgi on a plan from around 1900


The management of the Northeast Railway Company entrusted the end of October 1857 already at the Reussbrücke proven entrepreneurs Locher & Näff (architect Johann Jakob Locher and engineer Ferdinand Adolf Naeff ) with the construction of Limmatbrücke. The company, which was very busy with the construction of the entire route from Turgi to the Swiss border in Koblenz, took on a third partner in the form of engineer Olivier Zschokke from Aarau at the beginning of 1859 and subsequently traded as Locher & Cie.

The double-lane Limmat Bridge was put into operation on August 18, 1859 together with the Turgi – Koblenz – Waldshut railway line .

The type of construction of the bridge

View before 1971 from the underwater side, marked by weather damage, the covered wooden bridge from 1921 in the background

The arch bridge is made of natural stone and is similar to the neighboring three years older SBB Reuss bridge in Turgi .

Because of the high weight of the trains and their braking and starting loads, stone bridges with stiff and low-vibration dimensions, as they had proven themselves in road construction, were often used in railroad construction in the era before reinforced concrete construction. This is also the case with the SBB Limmat Bridge in Turgi.

The outer shell consists of precise block house stones made of limestone sandstone and the filling is made of rubble stones. Thanks to the narrow joints, the bridge looks like it is made of one piece even from a short distance. The arches with a large span and low height make them appear light and elegant. The bridge is now 90.5 m long and 10 m wide with a total span of 77.7 m. The dimensions (radius = 19.2 m, arch height = 4.2 m and clear width = 22.35 m) of the three circular segment arches are identical. The two 8 m high and 3 m wide pillars and the abutments, built from block stones, stand on solid foundations that are piled deep in the solid ground and caulked in the water with rubble stone blocks to prevent clogging.

Situation today

View after 1971 from the upper water side, with the service channel at pillar height
Photo from 1989 with RBe 4/4 train combination

In addition to the two bridges required to bridge the Limmat , the bridge has a third for a planned but never realized canal. The Heinrich Bebié company did not use its concession for a waterworks and a spinning mill, downstream in the Unterau from Untersiggenthal.

The industrial culture path Limmat – Wasserschloss runs through this opening as a riverside path , and the SBB Limmat Bridge Turgi is one of its technological and historical monuments. The floodplain protection park of the Canton of Aargau is located in Switzerland's moated castle . In this floodplain area of ​​national importance , the rivers Aare , Reuss and Limmat unite , a good 1 km downstream from the SBB-Limmatbrücke Turgi, in the Vogelsang district of Gibstorf .

The Limmat Bridge Turgi has been owned by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) since the Swiss Northeast Railway was nationalized on January 1, 1902 .

These electrified the Turgi – Koblenz railway in 1944 . The Limmat Bridge carries a portal mast of the overhead line on the first and third arch.

During the Second World War , the SBB Limmat Bridge was in the operational area of ​​the Limmat Line of the Swiss Army and was classified as a military explosive device.

In the course of time, the bridge became more and more leaky and the water and frost damage put it to its feet. After the company Brown, Boveri & Cie. In Ennetturgi (Untersiggenthal), the expansion of the bridge with a double lane for a connecting track into the industrial area on the right bank was considered and the bridge was thoroughly renewed in 1971.

The bridge trough was partially excavated and covered with a reinforced concrete slab with a seal for the road structure. Although the bridge was originally dimensioned for double lane, it cantilevers over the bridge trough with side brackets, necessary to maintain the current safety distances. This additional track was ultimately not implemented either.

In addition, the municipality of Turgi wanted to replace the remote-controlled barriers of the footpath level crossing on the left river bank path with an underpass on the left abutment, for the supply line to the waste water treatment plant built in 1966 in the Unterau Siggenthal below a union and relief structure and at the pillar height of the bridge to install a service channel for the sewage pipe to the right bank sewage treatment plant.

Since there was apparently no viable alternative for the latter, the preservation of monuments and homeland security of the canton of Aargau did not oppose, albeit with regret, this disruption of the aesthetics of the bridge.

The renovation order was carried out by Jäggi AG from Brugg. With this, the SBB-Limmatbrücke was ready to withstand the enormously increased axle loads, travel speeds and density of the sequence of today's train compositions for many years again.

Remarks

  1. ↑ The oldest railway bridge still in operation is the original bridge of the “ Spanish Brötli Railway ”, which opened in 1847, over the Schäflibach in Dietikon. The small structure is now covered by the mighty road structure of the double lane.
  2. ↑ At that time the Turgi railway junction was still a part of the village of Gibstorf , but emancipated itself and in 1884 became an independent municipality.
  3. ^ The first international railway connection in Switzerland reached Basel in 1840 from St. Louis in France .
  4. ↑ his brother was Wilhelm Matthias Naeff , Federal Councilor from the very beginning)
  5. ↑ later Locher & Cie AG.
  6. ↑ Ferdinand Adolf Naeff was strongly influenced by Alois Negrelli , who set a standard with the Negrelliho viaduct and with whom he had completed an internship.
  7. ↑ The Koblenz – Waldshut section was not equipped with an electrical overhead line until 1999.
  8. ↑ 2016 to the pumping station for the newly created lead to ARA moated castle in Windisch dismantled
  9. ^ Jäggi AG

literature

  • Jürg Conzett u. a .: Swiss railway bridges. Zurich 2013, pp. 100-103, OCLC 997452251

Web links

Commons : Eisenbahnbrücke Turgi-Untersiggenthal  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Decree on the protection of the Aare – Reuss – Limmat estuary
  2. ↑ Brochure: One Hundred Years of the Zurich Goods Station , Zurich 1997
  3. ↑ Markus Bürgi: Escher, Alfred (from the glass). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  4. ^ Minutes of the management of the Nordostbahngesellschaft dated June 23, 1856, SBB Historic Archives , Lagerstrasse, CH-5210 Windisch
  5. ^ Minutes of the management of the Nordostbahngesellschaft dated October 29 and 31, 1857 and February 3, 1858, SBB Historic Archive , Lagerstrasse, CH-5210 Windisch
  6. ↑ Peter Müller-Grieshaber: Locher, Johann Jakob. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  7. ^ Markus Kaiser: Naeff, Adolf. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  8. ↑ Patrick Zehnder: Zschokke, Peter Olivier. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  9. ^ Minutes of the management of the Nordostbahngesellschaft dated March 19, 1859, SBB Historic Archives , Lagerstrasse, CH-5210 Windisch.
  10. ^ Anton Wohler: Bebié, Heinrich. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  11. ↑ Canton of Aargau: Decree on the protection of the Aare – Reuss – Limmat estuary (Wasserschlossdekret, WSD) , of February 28, 1989, in force since: April 30, 1989
  12. ↑ a b c Letter from District Directorate III of the Swiss Federal Railways in Zurich to the Directorate General in Bern, Zurich, May 7, 1971, SBB Historic Archive , Lagerstrasse, CH-5210 Windisch
  13. ↑ a b Letter from the construction department of the General Directorate of the Swiss Federal Railways to the III. Department with reference to a letter from the Department of Monument Preservation of the Department of Education of the Canton of Aargau dated November 13, 1870, Bern, May 16, 1971, SBB Historic Archive , Lagerstrasse, CH-5210 Windisch
  14. ↑ Jürg Conzett u. a .: Swiss railway bridges. Zurich 2013, p. 101