Freiensee tunnel

Freiensee tunnel
use	Railway tunnel
traffic connection	Friedberg – Mücke railway line
place	Open lakes
length	146 m (1st tube); 196 m (2nd tube)
Number of tubes	2
cross-section	horseshoe-shaped
construction
Client	Grand Ducal Hessian State Railways
completion	1903
business
operator	shut down
location
Coordinates
South portal	50 ° 33 ′ 11 "  N , 9 ° 2 ′ 31"  E
North portal	50 ° 33 '11 "  N , 9 ° 2' 35"  E

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

The Freienseener Tunnel is the only tunnel on the single- track Friedberg – Mücke line .

Geographical location

The tunnel is located between Laubach and Freienseen at route km 42 in the now disused section of the railway line . It drives under the Galgenberg (310 m), a western branch of the Vogelsberg .

1st tube

The first railway tunnel with the Laubach – Mücke section went into operation on October 1, 1903. It was 146 m long and is now walled up.

2nd tube

Since 1936 it was planned to double-track the connection Bad Hersfeld - Alsfeld - Mücke - Hungen - Friedberg . In preparation for this, a second tunnel was built parallel to the existing tunnel in 1938/39, also known as the "Galgenberg Tunnel". It was 196 m long. Due to the Second World War , the double-track expansion of the line was no longer possible. Rather, the second, functionless tube was used from 1943 to bring part of the armaments production of the Frankfurt company VDO to safety from air raids ( U relocation ). Between May and October 1944, around 1200 forced laborers , prisoners of war and prisoners at a branch of the Heddernheim labor education camp manufactured speedometers for aircraft and measurement and control technology for the Fieseler Fi 103 (V1) and unit 4 (V2) aircraft . After the war, the VDO administration building was converted into the Waldschänke inn and the tunnel was used for mushroom cultivation.

literature

• Bernd Vielsmeier: Railway tunnel . In: Oberhessische Vertriebsbetriebe AG (OVAG) (Hrsg.): Connection to the wide world: On the changeful development of the railroad in Oberhessen , Friedberg 2014 (2015), ISBN 978-3-9815015-5-1 , pp. 219-223.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition Cologne 2014, p. 65; Vielsmeier.
2. ↑ Photos at forget-bahnen.de
3. ↑ Photos and further information at eisenbahntunnel-portal.de

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap