Rosenberg Tunnel (SBB)

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Rosenberg tunnel
Rosenberg tunnel
RABDe 4/12 of the then BT driving out of the Rosenberg tunnel to St. Gallen station.
use Railway tunnel
traffic connection Rorschach – St. Gallen and Romanshorn – St. Gallen
place St. Gallen
length 1466 mdep1
Number of tubes 1
construction
building-costs 3.5 million CHF
start of building 1906
completion April 1, 1912
business
operator SBB
location
Rosenberg Tunnel (SBB) (Canton of St. Gallen)
Red pog.svg
Red pog.svg
Coordinates
East portal St. Fiden 747020  /  255475
West portal St. Gallen 745930  /  254615
Rosenberg Tunnel between the St. Gallen (bottom left) and St. Fiden (top right) train stations in 1912. The route of the line that was open shortly before is clearly visible.

The Rosenberg Tunnel is a 1.5 km long, double-lane railway tunnel operated by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) between St. Gallen St. Fiden and St. Gallen on the Rorschach – St. Gallen . It is also used by the Swiss Südostbahn (SOB) trains coming from Romanshorn , whose line in St. Fiden is connected to the SBB Rorschach – St. Gallen flows into.

prehistory

In the 19th century, the trains from Rorschach to St. Gallen ran on a single-lane route to St. Fiden, which still managed without a tunnel. The commissioning of the Bodensee-Toggenburg-Bahn (BT), a predecessor of the Südostbahn, led to an increase in the number of trains on the St. Fiden – St. Gallen and asked for a second track . An underground route through the double lane freed the residents from the plague of smoke and made it possible to use the vacated area for road traffic.

The first BT project envisaged a 980 meter long tunnel that would have crossed the Rosenberg at right angles to the St. Gallen train station. The route would then have led along the Sitter to the village of Wittenbach . In 1906, SBB decided to build the double-track line between St. Fiden and St. Gallen underground. The tunnel, initially also referred to as the Schützengarten tunnel to delimit the first tunnel project , was planned with a length of 1340 meters and a gradient of 13 per thousand. For shared use of the St. Fiden – St. Gallen and the St. Fiden station to contribute one million francs, the city of St. Gallen contributed 800,000 francs to the tunnel construction.

construction

Important preparatory work had to be carried out before the actual tunnel construction. At the east portal, the Steinach and several streets had to be relocated . The construction of the tunnel began as early as 1906 under the direction of SBB, although the contractual arrangements with BT had not yet been concluded. In 1909 the SBB outsourced the construction work to the Johann Ruesch company in St. Gallen. By the end of December 1910, operations were to begin on one track. Around a quarter of the tunnel was built using open- cast mining . The tunnel builders mainly encountered clay and marl rocks from the upper freshwater molasses . Swellable marl layers led to large base elevations in the central area , so that base vaults had to be installed over a length of 590 meters.

The Rosenberg tunnel could not be put into operation in July 1911 as planned. The breakthrough did not take place until March 23, 1911, the first, northern track was put into operation on March 19, 1912, and the second track was put into operation on April 1, 1912. The costs were budgeted at 3.5 million francs.

Today's tunnel route from St. Fiden to St. Gallen initially has a gradient of 9, later a maximum of 14 per thousand. After a short straight, there is a large left curve with a radius of 700 meters, and only shortly before the western end of the tunnel does the direction change to a right curve with a radius of 300 meters. The 1466 meter long tunnel crosses under urban areas. Its largest cover is 44 meters.

The former railway line was taken over by the city of St. Gallen, which used it for road construction and part of it for several decades as a siding from St. Fiden train station to the slaughterhouse.

Operation and modifications

When the railway line was electrified, wet masonry sections in the vault were sealed to protect the new contact lines . SBB trains have been running electrically through the tunnel since May 15, 1927. The BT ran on steam until 1932.

The two tubes of the Rosenberg tunnel on the A1 motorway, which opened in 1987, run roughly in the middle of the tunnel under the railway tunnel. For this purpose, a concrete support grid was installed under the railway tracks in addition to the base vaults.

The penetration of mountain water and the use of de-icing salt on the roads above the tunnel made renovation work necessary from 1994 to 1997. Since then, lowering the tunnel floor by 30 to 40 centimeters has made it possible for double-decker trains to pass through . In addition to the lowering, the base vaults were rebuilt, the vaults sealed, the tunnel floor drained and the penetrating mountain water diverted. The entire renovation was carried out with ongoing operations. In order to handle the traffic on a track, a block was set up in the middle of the tunnel , which has since allowed a train headway of two minutes.

From 2014 to 2015, the old ceiling slab at the west portal had to be demolished over a length of 40 meters and rebuilt. The traffic on the intersection above was temporarily diverted over a large area.

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Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Gerhard Oswald: The Bodensee-Toggenburg Railway . Appenzeller Verlag, Herisau 2004, ISBN 978-3-85882-361-8 .
  2. ^ The Bodensee-Toggenburgbahn (1st part) . In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung . Volume 49 (1907), Issue 23 (archived in E-Periodica of the ETH Library , PDF; 5.6 MB).
  3. ^ The Rosenberg tunnel near St. Gallen . In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung . Volume 53 (1909), Issue 4 (archived in E-Periodica of the ETH Library , PDF; 0.8 MB).
  4. ^ Hans G. Wägli: Swiss rail network and Swiss rail profile CH + . AS Verlag, Zurich 2010, ISBN 978-3-909111-74-9 .
  5. ↑ David Gadze: New ceiling in the SBB Rosenberg tunnel . In: Tagblatt Online. April 24, 2013, accessed January 1, 2016 .