Oberau tunnel

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The north portal with the Oberau train station (approx. 1840)
Railway tunnel (1915)
Oberau and the tunnel on a map from the 19th century
Tunnel monument from the original material of the portal crown

After a railway tunnel of the Tollwitz-Dürrenberger Feldbahn , the Oberau tunnel was the second railway tunnel in Germany, but the first tunnel of a full line on the European mainland at all. It was drilled by Freiberg miners between 1837 and 1839 on the Leipzig – Dresden railway line and slit open in 1933/1934. Today only an obelisk reminds of this milestone in German railway history .

history

Although the Leipzig – Dresden railway line was routed through rather flat terrain in northern Saxony, a tunnel had to be built near Oberau because of the north slope of the Dresden Elbkesseln because it was believed at the time that railways could not negotiate steep gradients. For comparison: the Berlin – Dresden railway line, which was built half a century later and largely runs parallel, has its greatest gradients in this area.

More than 500 miners sank four 20 m deep shafts onto the tunnel floor. From there and from the entrance portals , the actual tunnel was built. Two of the shafts were later used for tunnel ventilation. After various water ingresses, the tunnel was completely lined with 8900 m³ Elbe sandstone .

After the Leipzig-Dresden Railway opened on April 7, 1839, Oberau station, high above the cut of the tunnel, was the closest station to Meissen . Because of this unfavorable location, Meißen tried to find a more convenient railway connection and got it in 1842 with the Niederau railway station located about 2.5 kilometers south of the tunnel . With the opening of Niederau station, the Leipzig-Dresden Railway Compagnie gave up Oberau station on May 15, 1842.

From 1933 to 1934, the Oberau tunnel was slit open due to the insufficient clearance profile and severe damage from the effects of water and frost during ongoing operations. Instead of the tunnel, the railway line runs in a cut here . In the area of ​​the former tunnel, the state road 177 between Radeburg and Meißen now bridges the railway line.

In the tunnel monument from the original material of the portal crowning, the Saxon coat of arms, which once had its place in the middle of the portal, was reused. The Dresden coat of arms was placed on the left and is now a memorial stone next to the road bridge.

Dresden coat of arms

Data at a glance

  • Length: 513.3 meters
  • Built: 1837–1839
  • Slashed: 1933/1934
  • Location in km: 93.2
  • Maximum cover: around 15 m
  • Rocks passed through: slate , granite

See also

Web links

Commons : Oberauer Tunnel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Ralf Haase: Economy and Transport in Saxony in the 19th Century - Industrialization and the Influence of Friedrich List. Dresden 2009, p. 169 f.

Coordinates: 51 ° 11 ′ 37 ″  N , 13 ° 32 ′ 44 ″  E