Lärchwand inclined elevator
| Lärchwand inclined elevator | |
|---|---|
 Lärchwand inclined elevator
| |
| Route length: | 0.82 km |
| Gauge : | 8200 mm |
| Maximum slope : | 810 ‰ |
| Top speed: | 10.8 km / h |
| Height difference: | 431 m |
| Capacity: | 185 people |
| Delivery rate: | 900 people per hour and direction |
| State (A): | Salzburg |
The Lärchwand inclined elevator is an inclined elevator that is located near Kaprun in Austria in the Hohe Tauern National Park . Of all passenger rail vehicles, it uses the largest track width of 8200 mm . The elevator was operated by Tauernkraftwerke AG until 1999 , which merged into VERBUND Hydro Power AG through the merger of the hydropower generation companies .
history
In 1941, the Waagner-Biro company built an inclined elevator on today's route as an entrance for the construction sites of the Glockner-Kaprun power plant group . The original system had a track width of 3600 mm and a load capacity of 9 t. As it soon became apparent that the capacity of this elevator was not sufficient for the upper stage expansion of the power plant group, the system, also by Waagner-Biro, was converted into a heavy-duty railway with today's track width and a load capacity of 60 t in order to be able to transport materials the high mountain construction sites of the Mooserboden and Wasserfallboden reservoirs and the upper level powerhouse. In the course of time, the tourist use has come to the fore.
In the summer of 2006, however, the plant was given the task of transporting materials for a power plant. Establishing the expansion project Limberg II one was the construction sector hilltop castle set on Mooserboden. This included driving the new pressure tunnel and building the intake structure. For this purpose, from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m., when there was no tourist traffic, all building materials and construction machinery as well as the construction site equipment were transported to Mooserbodenstraße with the inclined elevator. The amount transported was around 20,000 t.
Fundamental renovations took place in 1982 and most recently in 2013 to 2014. During this renovation, the South Tyrolean company Leitner AG replaced a large part of the cable car and electrical equipment. Since 2007, for the first time, there has been a truck-compatible access to the upper part of the high mountain road, Mooserbodenstraße, via the newly constructed access tunnel to the Limberg II power plant cavern and the elevator will in future only be used for passenger transport, the load capacity of 60 t was no longer required and reduced to 14 t.
Technical features
Over a length of 820 meters, it overcomes 431 meters in altitude, making it the largest inclined lift in Europe . Due to the large track width of 8,200 mm, all eight rollers of the chassis are equipped with flanges on both sides . It is driven by two synchronized winches in the mountain station; the pull rope loop is diverted over two sheaves on the elevator car. The rails are mounted on concrete longitudinal sleepers along the route . The footprint of the platform of the elevator car is 9 m by 5.40 m. From the times of the power plant construction there is still a station just below the mountain station, which enables direct access to the Limberg power house at the foot of the Limberg dam.
Driveway to the high mountain reservoirs in Kaprun
Today the facility serves as a means of transport for tourists who visit the high mountain reservoirs of Kaprun. For this purpose, in the summer months from the end of May to mid-October there is a bus service from the end of the public road at the end of the valley, the Kesselfall-Alpenhaus station , via the Lärchwand inclined elevator past the Wasserfallboden reservoir to the Mooserboden reservoir at an altitude of 2040 m , operated by Verbund AG .
You usually take a bus for the first part of the route from the Kesselfall-Alpenhaus departure point to the valley station of the inclined elevator, change to it and, after the ascent, use the further bus route from the mountain station of the inclined elevator, which runs over Mooserbodenstrasse on the mountain flank of the left side of the valley to the Moosersperre and the tourist facilities there.
In addition, until the renovation of the facility in 2013, it was operationally possible to transport an occupied bus directly with the inclined elevator, which made it unnecessary for passengers to change. The rear overhang of the bus overhanged the right-hand side of the platform of the elevator car when viewed from below, which is why there is a corresponding clearance profile in the rock or in the vegetation on this side of the route . At the time, taking the inclined elevator was the only way for buses to reach their route on Mooserbodenstraße.
The bus drove forward to the inclined elevator at the valley station and left it forwards at the mountain station or the station at the foot of the Limbergsperre, which is about 4/5 of the route. The procedure was reversed for the descent, i.e. H. the bus went backwards onto the inclined elevator and left it backwards.
Since the mountain station on Mooserbodenstrasse has been accessible via the new access tunnel to Limberg II and the existing road between the upper level power houses (upper end of the tunnel) and the mountain station since 2007, there is no longer any need to use the buses themselves (as well as the all other vehicles that have a destination in the area of the reservoirs) to be transported with the inclined elevator. This was taken into account in 2013/14 with the conversion of the elevator car for the exclusive transport of people, in which the experience of the alpine elevator ride on the open platform is in the foreground.
Web links
- The Lärchwand inclined elevator - Europe's largest open inclined elevator. In: VERBUND website. Retrieved December 2, 2014 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ DI A. Wagner and DI E. Wagner: Power plant construction then and now using the example of the Glockner / Kaprun power plant group and the Limberg II PSW in Kaprun. (No longer available online.) In: Lecture at the Austrian Tunnel Construction Day 2008, page 11 f. Archived from the original on December 15, 2017 ; accessed on November 13, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Report on the renovation of the inclined elevator in the International Cable Car Review , issue 6/2013, p. 20 f. ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed November 13, 2015).
- ↑ Kaprun high mountain reservoirs , tourist information at verbund.com , accessed on November 13, 2015.
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated December 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Photo series of a bus ride with the inclined elevator. Accessed July 21, 2013.
- ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJERg8Xv1rg Video of a ride of a bus with the inclined elevator from the perspective of a passenger (arrival at the valley station and leaving the platform at about 3:50 am). Accessed July 21, 2013.
Coordinates: 47 ° 12 ′ 21 ″ N , 12 ° 43 ′ 9 ″ E