Gleinalm tunnel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gleinalm tunnel
Gleinalm tunnel
South portal of the Gleinalm tunnel (December 2019) after the expansion to 2 tubes
use Motorway tunnel
traffic connection Pyhrnautobahn
place Gleinalpe
length 8,320 mdep1
Number of tubes 2
cross-section Full expansion
construction
building-costs Construction of the 2nd tunnel tube and renovation of the 1st tube: € 243 million (2013-2019)
start of building 1973
completion 1978
planner ?
business
operator ASFINAG
toll Special toll for cars: € 9.50
release 1st tube 1978
2nd tube 2017
location
Gleinalm Tunnel (Styria)
Red pog.svg
Red pog.svg
Coordinates
North portal 47 ° 17 ′ 40 "  N , 15 ° 4 ′ 40"  E
South portal 47 ° 14 ′ 54 "  N , 15 ° 9 ′ 33"  E

The Gleinalm tunnel is a motorway tunnel in Austria on the Pyhrn motorway A 9 with a length of 8,320 meters. It connects the districts of Leoben and Graz-Umgebung in Styria and was opened on August 11, 1978. On December 20, 2019, the first tube was released again after the renovation, after the second tube had been opened in July 2017.

geography

The tunnel and the subsequent sections of the A 9 form between St. Michael in Obersteiermark and Deutschfeistritz , both on the Mur, with a length of around 30 km, a 50% shortcut compared to the roughly 60 km long route through the Murtal , where in In recent years the expressways south of Bruck an der Mur with tunnels and four lanes have been expanded to high capacity.

The route with tunnel thus offers a saving of 30 km and 20-30 minutes of travel time, with toll costs of 9.50 euros (for a car, single journey, as of 2020). The toll booth is five kilometers north of the tunnel.

Before the Bruck – Deutschfeistritz line was expanded as a dual carriageway, car traffic only flowed as fast as truck traffic over long distances on two-lane roads. Before the expressway was also charged with a route toll for trucks in 2004 , trucks often took the detour via Bruck in order to save tunnel tolls. Conversely, for weekly or even more frequent journeys with an annual ticket, the car tunnel toll costs are negligible and a journey from Graz to Leoben (7 km downstream from St. Michael) via the tunnel is much closer, more comfortable and cheaper than via the Murtal.

The relation is internationally important for the traffic between Germany and Slovenia or Hungary and within Austria between Linz (north of St. Michael) or the upper Murtal (above Leoben) and Graz.

Until 2017, the tunnel was only single-tube and operated with two-way traffic at a maximum speed of 80 km / h. Due to multiple fatal accidents in the tunnel, the construction of a second tube became necessary. Full expansion began in September 2013 and project costs of EUR 243 million were calculated. The second tunnel was opened on July 21, 2017. After a 2-year general renovation of the old tube, it was opened to traffic on December 20, 2019. Both tunnels are now passable and equipped with modern safety technology in accordance with EU regulations.

The Gleinalm tunnel is operated as a special toll route, i.e. instead of the general Austrian motorway toll ( vignette ), a usage fee of 9.50 euros per trip is levied for all vehicles up to 3.5 t maximum gross vehicle weight . Annual tickets, which include the passage through the second Bosruck special toll tunnel , are available for 106 euros. The vignette section allows the reduction of only one annual ticket to 66, - Euro, further reductions apply to commuters and the disabled (as of 2019). Heavier vehicles - campers, buses, trucks - each over 3.5 t GVW do not pay a surcharge for using the tunnel, but only the motorway kilometer toll depending on the number of axles and emissions category.

There is a video toll lane at the toll station of the Gleinalm tunnel as well as at the Bosruck tunnel . After prepayment of the toll (single and season tickets), the license plate is saved for one year. In the video toll lane, the license plate is scanned when the vehicle is traveling at a reduced speed and it is possible to drive through automatically without waiting.

Fires

On August 6, 2001, a car accident occurred in the Gleinalm tunnel, which caused a fire with serious consequences and killing five people.

In the evening of August 4, 2016, about two kilometers after entering the tunnel, a Danish coach that had been converted into a mobile home caught fire. The seven inmates were able to save themselves, but had to be taken to hospitals with smoke poisoning . On August 5, 2016, it was announced that the tunnel ceiling at the accident site was in danger of collapsing and that the tunnel would probably remain closed for one to one and a half months to repair the fire damage. Traffic was diverted via the Semmering expressway S 6 and the Bruck expressway S 35. The transit traffic was largely diverted via the Tauern Autobahn A 10 in the west and via the Süd Autobahn A 2 in the east. The tunnel was opened to traffic again on August 25, 2016.

Workers were withdrawn from the second tube, which was under construction, to clean up the fire damage in 21 days. 25 to 30 workers were on duty, working around the clock. In the accident area, the false ceiling and the storage niche were badly damaged and the tunnel technology equipment destroyed. 40 m 2 (30 tons) of damaged false ceiling was removed. For the new concrete false ceiling, 64 new rock anchors were set, which received fire protection insulation, and a ventilation blind was renewed. The storage niche was completely filled with 300 m 3 of concrete (there were more niches in the tunnel than required). Asfinag stated that the renovation costs were 500,000 euros. The revenue lost from the special toll for the tunnel was stated by Asfinag at 2.5 million euros, around 120,000 euros per day. This amount results on the one hand from the loss of income for single trips, and the validity of current annual tickets has been extended by one month. Asfinag demanded around 3 million euros from the bus driver's liability insurance, but received only 1.2 million euros.

On October 5, 2018, shortly before 1 p.m., a heavy load, a 7-axle truck-mounted crane with a mass of around 80 tonnes, about one kilometer after entering the south portal of the eastern tube, caught fire. All 83 people in the tunnel were able to escape, primarily through the west tube, which was closed at the time for renovation work. Three people suffered from smoke inhalation. The high temperatures during the fire delayed the extinguishing work, which was completed around 3 p.m. Since the tunnel's false ceiling was severely damaged in the fire, the tunnel was closed for several weeks. All traffic was diverted via the Mur valley (Semmering expressway S6 and Bruck expressway S35). The tunnel tube was destroyed in a 300 m long section, which is why 100 ceiling props were paved here before the vehicle was recovered. According to the owner, the destroyed mobile crane was worth over 1 million euros. Broken axles were welded and secured with chains, the steering of only the front three axles could be made smooth. A 1000 HP tractor unit was pulled to the apex in the middle of the tunnel and then braked. On the evening of October 10th, the wreck was brought out of the north portal and parked in a parking lot for inspection. Asfinag puts the renovation costs at more than 2.5 million euros. The validity of current annual tickets has been extended for the duration of the ban. The tunnel was opened to traffic again on December 7, 2018.

Web links

Commons : Gleinalm Tunnel  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c The Gleinalm tunnel: the construction method and the costs. Retrieved November 10, 2011 .
  2. ↑ https://www.asfinag.at/ueber-uns/newsroom/pressemmeldung/2019/eroeffnung-gleinalmtunnel/
  3. ↑ Gleinalm Tunnel: Second tube opened , report on ORF-online from July 21, 2017
  4. ↑ A 9 Pyhrn motorway, full expansion of the Gleinalm tunnel
  5. ↑ distance toll rates Asfinag.at, accessed 30 April 2019.
  6. ↑ Toll for trucks and buses Asfinag.at, accessed April 27, 2018.
  7. ↑ Accident caused by a German in the Gleinalm tunnel Handelsblatt online, August 7, 2001, accessed on July 6, 2014.
  8. ↑ Gleinalm tunnel closed until Monday after fire orf.at, August 5, 2016, accessed August 5, 2016.
  9. ↑ Kleine Zeitung of August 5, 2016: Tunnel remains closed for one to one and a half months (accessed on August 5, 2016)
  10. ↑ Gleinalm Tunnel: renovation faster than planned orf.at, August 17, 2016, accessed August 17, 2016.
  11. ↑ Thomas Rossacher: Gleinalm Tunnel will be open again tomorrow from 2 p.m., Kleine Zeitung, Print, August 24, 2016, p. 18 f.
  12. ↑ Green light at the end of the tunnel, Kleine Zeitung, Print, August 25, 2016, p. 22 f.
  13. ↑ Gleinalm tunnel free again: investigations are ongoing orf.at, August 25, 2016, accessed August 25, 2016.
  14. ^ [1] Kleine Zeitung, October 8, 2018, accessed October 8, 2018.
  15. ↑ Gleinalm tunnel remains closed for several weeks after a fire - derStandard.at. Retrieved October 6, 2018 .
  16. ↑ 83 people fled: fire in Gleinalm tunnel extinguished: closure will certainly last weeks . In: www.kleinezeitung.at . ( kleinezeitung.at [accessed on October 6, 2018]).
  17. ^ Gleinalm tunnel fire. Retrieved October 6, 2018 (German).
  18. ↑ Burnt out truck recovered from Gleinalm tunnel orf.at, October 11, 2018, accessed October 11, 2018.
  19. ↑ Two months after the crane truck fire, the Gleinalm tunnel was given the green light again. Asfinag press release of December 7, 2018, accessed on December 7, 2018.
  20. ↑ Gleinalm tunnel reopened after fire orf.at, December 7, 2018, accessed December 7, 2018.