Prague tunnel

Prague tunnel
	South portals of the two tubes of the Prague tunnel
use	Railway tunnel
traffic connection	Frankenbahn
place	Stuttgart-North
length	680 m
Number of tubes	2
construction
Client	KWSt.E.
start of building	June 26, 1844 (south-west tube) ; October 1908 (north-east tube)
business
operator	DB network
release	October 15, 1846 (southwest tube) ; August 1910 (northeast tube)
location
Coordinates
Southeast portal	48 ° 48 ′ 27 " N , 9 ° 10 ′ 49" E
Northwest portal	48 ° 48 ′ 42 " N , 9 ° 10 ′ 21" E

Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

The Prague Tunnel is a railway tunnel in Stuttgart through the Prague , a ridge between the Stuttgart basin and Feuerbach . With two 680 meter long tubes ( route kilometers 3.614 to 4.294), the tunnel connects the north station with the Feuerbach station on the Frankenbahn . The route 4800 runs through the northeast tube and the route 4801 through the southwest tube.

The tunnel runs in swellable layers of gypsum keuper .

Track systems

The track spacing in the two tubes was given in the early 20th century as 3.70 and 4.00 m. They are now given as 3.65 m (S-Bahn) or 3.70 m (long-distance train).

To the south of the tunnel, a track connection that can be driven at 60 km / h connects the long-distance track to the main station with the S-Bahn track in the direction of Feuerbach. A track connection to the Gäubahn, which can be driven on at 40 km / h, threads out of an S-Bahn track .

history

First tube

The first tube of the Prague tunnel was built as part of the very first Württemberg railway project, the Zentralbahn Esslingen –Stuttgart – Ludwigsburg. The groundbreaking ceremony was on June 26th, 1844 and marks the beginning of construction work on the Zentralbahn. To build this tunnel leading through Keuperschichten , five shafts were sunk , which were later filled in again.

The 828.65 meter long tunnel was only pierced after more than two years of construction, and operations on the Zentralbahn began on October 15, 1846. The tunnel was designed for double-track operation from the start, but initially only a single track was laid. The second track was retrofitted between 1858 and 1861.

Between 1911 and 1914, the tube, which is now used by S-Bahn traffic, was widened and shortened to 680 meters in order to be able to set up the freight rail connection between the Gäubahn and the Nordbahnhof.

The S-Bahn tunnel is used by 328 S-Bahn trains and six regional trains per day. On the four-level condition rating scale of DB Netz, the structure was classified in category 2 in 2008 and 2014 ("Major damage to the structure part that does not affect safety."), And in 2017 to category 3 ("Extensive damage to the structure part which the Do not influence the stability. A repair is still possible, its profitability must be checked. ").

Second tube

A regional train in the direction of Heilbronn leaves the Prague tunnel in a northerly direction (June 2006).

In 1907 it was decided to subject the Stuttgart railway system to extensive renovation work, including the expansion of the Stuttgart – Ludwigsburg line to four tracks. To this end, from October 1908 a second, 680 meter long tunnel tube was built immediately northeast of the first, which accommodated the two additional tracks.

The tunnel was pierced on June 22, 1909, but shortly afterwards it collapsed for a length of 20 to 30 meters, and above the tunnel the ground sank up to four meters. After the damage had been repaired, the new tunnel could not be put into operation until August 1910. Then the old tunnel, which had probably become unstable due to the construction of the new tube, was initially closed and renovated. On this occasion, the tunnel was shortened by additional cuts on the Stuttgart side to a length of 680 meters. The renovation could be completed on August 21, 1912, and on 21/22. November 1912 the old tube was put back into operation. It then served the suburban traffic in Stuttgart or today the S-Bahn, while the new tube is used by long-distance trains .

Since 1981, both tubes is located at the northern portals a Overpass of the light rail . In this structure, there is an advance construction work for an additional freight track, which was still planned at the time, to the west of the S-Bahn tracks in the form of a concealed fifth track trough. A third Prague tunnel tube was planned for this purpose.

The long-distance railway tunnel is used daily in both directions by 143 long-distance passenger trains and 151 regional trains. On the four-stage condition rating scale from DB Netz, the structure was classified in category 2 in 2008 and 2014 (“Major damage to the structure that does not affect safety”). In 2017 it was assigned to category 3 ("Extensive damage to the structural part that does not affect the stability. Repairs are still possible, their profitability must be checked.").

Future use / Stuttgart 21

As part of variant T for the expansion of the Stuttgart S-Bahn network, the southern Prague tunnel tube would have been used by S-Bahn trains in the direction of Stuttgart. The northern tube would have been driven in the opposite direction. To the north, an additional third tube was planned for long-distance and regional traffic. These considerations later resulted in the T-clasp concept .

After the commissioning of the Stuttgart 21 project , the long-distance and regional rail section of the Pragtunnel will initially no longer be used by long-distance and regional traffic. In future, these trains are to be routed directly from the Feuerbach train station to the main train station via the Feuerbach tunnel .

Both old tubes remain. The tube used for S-Bahn traffic will continue to be used for S-Bahn traffic. The long-distance traffic tube will also be retained and, in the so-called P option of the Stuttgart 21 project, will enable two additional feeder tracks in the future.

For the optional S-Bahn extension Nordkreuz of the Stuttgart 21 project, a third double-track tunnel tube would be built to accommodate S-Bahn traffic in the direction of Stuttgart North (deep) and Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof (deep).

Web links

Location, course, permissible speeds and signals of the tunnel on the OpenRailwayMap

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f German Bundestag (ed.): Answer of the Federal Government to the minor question from MPs Matthias Gastel, Harald Ebner, Christian Kühn (Tübingen), other MPs and the Alliance 90 / THE GREENS parliamentary group - printed matter 18/2329 - . tape 18 , no. 2409 , August 27, 2014, ISSN 0722-8333 , p. 2, 4 ( PDF file ).
^ ^A ^b ^c Günter Dutt: A journey through 150 years of tunnel structures in Württemberg . In: Yearbook for Railway History . No. 28 . Uhle & Kleimann, 1996, ISSN 0340-4250 , p. 47-63 .
^ Tunnel construction of the railways. In: Viktor von Röll (ed.): Encyclopedia of the Railway System . 2nd Edition. Volume 9: Seaport tariffs - transition curve . Urban & Schwarzenberg, Berlin / Vienna 1921, p. 383 .
↑ ^a ^b Redesign of the Stuttgart railway junction: Expansion and new construction of the Stuttgart - Augsburg line, Stuttgart – Wendlingen area with airport connection: Plan approval section 1.1 Crossing the valley with the main station (...): Construction logistics: Site plan for the construction road and logistics areas, part 6 . Annex 13.10, sheet 1 of the first plan dated August 10, 2001.
^ Albert Mühl, Kurt Seidel: The Württemberg State Railways . 2nd edition, Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart, 1980, ISBN 3-8062-0249-4 , p. 40 f.
↑ ^a ^b ^c German Bundestag (ed.): Answer of the federal government to the small question of the MPs Matthias Gastel, Stefan Gelbhaar, Stephan Kühn (Dresden), Daniela Wagner and the faction BÜNDNIS 90 / DIE GRÜNEN - Drucksache 19/4781 - . Railway tunnel in Baden-Württemberg - condition of the tunnel structures and implementation status of the construction measures for their maintenance. tape 19 , no. 5403 , October 8, 2018, ISSN 0722-8333 , p. 6 ( BT-Drs. 19/5403 ).
↑ Jürgen Wedler, Manfred Thömmes, Olaf Schott: The balance sheet. 25 years of planning and building the Stuttgart S-Bahn . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-925565-03-5 , pp. 354-356 .
^ Spiekermann GmbH & Co. (Ed.): S-Bahn Stuttgart: Nordkreuz. Feasibility study. Explanatory report . 17-page document in version 09/99 ( PDF file , 2.3 MB), p. 6.

[bt-18-2409-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f German Bundestag (ed.): Answer of the Federal Government to the minor question from MPs Matthias Gastel, Harald Ebner, Christian Kühn (Tübingen), other MPs and the Alliance 90 / THE GREENS parliamentary group - printed matter 18/2329 - . tape 18 , no. 2409 , August 27, 2014, ISSN 0722-8333 , p. 2, 4 ( PDF file ).

[dutt-2] A ^b ^c Günter Dutt: A journey through 150 years of tunnel structures in Württemberg . In: Yearbook for Railway History . No. 28 . Uhle & Kleimann, 1996, ISSN 0340-4250 , p. 47-63 .

[roell-9-383-3] Tunnel construction of the railways. In: Viktor von Röll (ed.): Encyclopedia of the Railway System . 2nd Edition. Volume 9: Seaport tariffs - transition curve . Urban & Schwarzenberg, Berlin / Vienna 1921, p. 383 .

[pfa11-13.10-4] Redesign of the Stuttgart railway junction: Expansion and new construction of the Stuttgart - Augsburg line, Stuttgart – Wendlingen area with airport connection: Plan approval section 1.1 Crossing the valley with the main station (...): Construction logistics: Site plan for the construction road and logistics areas, part 6 . Annex 13.10, sheet 1 of the first plan dated August 10, 2001.

[muehl-seidel-1980-40-5] Albert Mühl, Kurt Seidel: The Württemberg State Railways . 2nd edition, Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart, 1980, ISBN 3-8062-0249-4 , p. 40 f.

[bt-19-5403-6] German Bundestag (ed.): Answer of the federal government to the small question of the MPs Matthias Gastel, Stefan Gelbhaar, Stephan Kühn (Dresden), Daniela Wagner and the faction BÜNDNIS 90 / DIE GRÜNEN - Drucksache 19/4781 - . Railway tunnel in Baden-Württemberg - condition of the tunnel structures and implementation status of the construction measures for their maintenance. tape 19 , no. 5403 , October 8, 2018, ISSN 0722-8333 , p. 6 ( BT-Drs. 19/5403 ).

[wedler-1993-354-7] Jürgen Wedler, Manfred Thömmes, Olaf Schott: The balance sheet. 25 years of planning and building the Stuttgart S-Bahn . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-925565-03-5 , pp. 354-356 .

[vrs-1999-09-04-8] Spiekermann GmbH & Co. (Ed.): S-Bahn Stuttgart: Nordkreuz. Feasibility study. Explanatory report . 17-page document in version 09/99 ( PDF file , 2.3 MB), p. 6.