Rappenstein tunnel
| Rappenstein tunnel | ||||
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.JPG) West portal of the Rappenstein tunnel before the renovation
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| use | Railway tunnel | |||
| traffic connection | Hochrheinbahn (double track) | |||
| place | Laufenburg (Baden) | |||
| length | 337 m | |||
| Number of tubes | 1 | |||
| cross-section | horseshoe-shaped | |||
| construction | ||||
| Client | Grand Ducal Baden State Railways | |||
| building-costs | 3 million fl. | |||
| start of building | 1854 | |||
| completion | 1856 | |||
| business | ||||
| operator | DB Netz AG | |||
| location | ||||
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| Coordinates | ||||
| West portal | 47 ° 33 '53 " N , 8 ° 3' 36" E | |||
| East portal | 47 ° 33 '58 " N , 8 ° 3' 52" E | |||
Map with all coordinates: The Rappenstein tunnel is a 377 m long, double- track railway tunnel as part of the Hochrheinbahn .
Geography and geology
With the tunnel, the Hochrheinbahn crosses under Laufenburg (Baden) in kilometer 311 the Rappenstein . The Rappenstein consists of gneiss and the old town of Laufenburg is based on it. The steep rock on the Rhine could not be bypassed with the radii permitted for railway construction, so that only a tunnel was possible. The gneiss is very hard and caused major problems when building the tunnel.
history
Work on the tunnel began in 1854. Since dynamite was not yet available at the time of construction, the tunnel was only dug using mining techniques . On September 8, 1856, the breakthrough was achieved after two years . The engineers had completely misjudged the effort required to build the tunnel: Instead of the originally estimated 30,000 florins , the construction finally cost more than 3 million florins, a cost overrun of 10,000%. The tunnel cost about the same as the construction of the rest of the route. As a “triumphant signal of victory over the mountain”, the two tunnel portals were given magnificent cladding with battlements, corner towers and Cyclops masonry , which were made from the gneiss of the mountain itself.
The tunnel was put into operation together with the section of the Hochrheinbahn from Basel to Waldshut on October 30, 1856. The tunnel portals are now cultural monuments according to the Monument Protection Act of Baden-Württemberg . The western tunnel portal was renovated in 2016.
literature
- Hendrik Leonhardt: Testimony to the history of the railway. Renovation of the Rappenstein portal in Laufenburg, Kr. Waldshut . In: Denkmalpflege in Baden-Württemberg 3/2017, p. 227 ( online edition ).
Remarks
- ^ At Leonhardt: certificate , and at Open Railway Map you can find the spelling "Rappensteintunnel". In the "official", railway-side documents, however: "Rappenstein tunnel" (see: Railway Atlas , pp. 110, 240).