Schlossberg Tunnel (Baden AG)
| Schlossberg tunnel | ||||
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 Rehabilitation of the Schlossberg tunnel (May 2016)
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| use | Road tunnel , formerly a railway tunnel | |||
| traffic connection | Hauptstrasse 3 , formerly the Zurich – Baden railway line | |||
| place | to bathe | |||
| length | 80 m | |||
| Number of tubes | 1 | |||
| Largest coverage | approx. 75 m | |||
| construction | ||||
| Client | Swiss Northern Railway | |||
| completion | April 14, 1847 (pierced), August 7, 1847 (opening) | |||
| location | ||||
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| Coordinates | ||||
| North portal | 665422 / 258447 | |||
| South portal | 665420 / 258364 | |||
Map with all coordinates: The Schlossberg tunnel is a road and formerly a railway tunnel in Baden in the canton of Aargau . It is 80 meters long and crosses the Schlossberg west of the old town. It was built by the Swiss Northern Railway in 1846/47 - as part of the Zurich – Baden railway line , the oldest railway line located entirely in Switzerland . The Schlossberg tunnel was thus the country's first rail tunnel. After the relocation of rail traffic to the Kreuzlibergtunnel in 1961, the conversion for road traffic followed, which was completed in 1965.
history
Railway tunnel
On March 16, 1846, under the leadership of the Zurich silk manufacturer Martin Escher, the Swiss Northern Railway was founded to build the first railway line in Switzerland. It should begin in Zurich and lead along the Limmat and Aare to Waldshut , where a connection to the planned Baden Hochrheinbahn in the direction of Basel was planned. First, the section in the Limmat Valley between Zurich and Baden was to be built. The chief engineer was the Austrian Alois Negrelli , who already had experience with railway construction. As the site of the station Baden he determined the hazel box, a flat area halfway between the old town and the spa quarter . The city authorities had initially suggested a location south of the old town (in the area of today's rural school house), but were convinced.
This choice of location meant that the railway line had to be led west past the old town through the Schlossberg , on which the Stein ruins stand. On the south side of the tunnel, the not very compact rock masses, which are criss-crossed by layers of clay, presented the inexperienced engineers with major challenges. For security reasons, part of the city wall and the «Powder Tower» had to be demolished. The laborers , who worked day and night, used drill rods and sledgehammers to drive blast holes into the rock. Simple horse-drawn carts carried the excavated material from the tunnel. In addition, prisoners from the cantonal prison were deployed, who had to work up to eleven hours a day. However, the tunnel construction fell behind schedule, which is why the Nordbahngesellschaft applied for Sunday work. The cantonal government declared that it was not responsible and pointed out that "one must address this request to the Baden clergy". Finally, the Roman Catholic parish gave permission.
On November 8, 1846, on one of these Sundays, a demolition accident occurred that claimed three lives. Due to the poor condition of the accommodation and the inadequate sanitary facilities, some workers fell ill with typhoid , of which six died. To improve the situation for sick and injured workers, the management planned an emergency hospital in the former Capuchin monastery . The city council rejected this, however, on the grounds that “the school classes housed there would not be exposed to any health damage”. On the other hand, he granted permission to set up a soup kitchen so that a hot meal could be given to the workers at least once a day. The former monastery church, which had previously served as a powder magazine, was allowed to be used as a dining room.
The tunnel was punctured on April 14, 1847. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung wrote : “This would have meant that this partition would have fallen before the hammer blows of the new era. Swiss locomotives will soon be roaring through the ruins of the proud prince's seat with long trains full of people of all backgrounds. " However, the local press does not seem to have taken any notice. On August 7, 1847, the Zurich – Baden railway line opened , the first in Switzerland. Scheduled traffic started two days later. Ferdinand Stadler , the architect of the station, also designed the two tunnel portals.
In 1861 the Swiss Northeast Railway expanded the Zurich – Baden – Turgi line to two lanes , and on January 21, 1925 , the Swiss Federal Railways introduced electrical operation.
Road tunnel
At the beginning of the 1950s, it became apparent that Baden was facing a traffic collapse. The constantly growing motorized individual traffic forced its way through the old town and was additionally hindered by level crossings in front of both tunnel portals. The barriers were closed for more than five hours because of the 230 daily trains. The situation on the Schulhausplatz on the south side was particularly precarious . As early as 1929, the city council announced a competition for the rehabilitation of through traffic . However, it remained just as unsuccessful as a project by the cantonal building authorities in 1942. A commission appointed by the city council, which also included the transport planner Kurt Leibbrand , presented a report in 1953 for the attention of the community . The “major railway relocation”, which envisaged a complete relocation of the railway line underground and a new train station inside the Schlossberg, failed because of the costs that were perceived as too high.
Instead, the community assembly decided in the same year for the "small railway relocation". The traffic flows were to be unbundled, on the one hand by building the new Kreuzliberg tunnel for the railroad, on the other hand by converting the Schlossberg tunnel for later use by road traffic. After the Grand Council of the Canton of Aargau approved the 25.7 million Swiss franc project in 1955, construction work on the Kreuzliberg tunnel began in October 1957. This was opened on October 1, 1961, after which the renovation of the Schlossberg tunnel could begin. The clearance profile was expanded to around four times and the tunnel was divided into two levels one above the other. While four lanes were created on the upper level for traffic purposes, a garage was built on the lower level, which served as access to a (never completed) civil defense system for 5,000 people . The Schlossberg tunnel was reopened on 30./31. October 1965 as part of a tunnel festival for the population. The "tunnel garage" served as an underground parking lot with a capacity of 150 vehicles, but also as a fast connection between the school building square and the train station for pedestrians and - despite the driving ban - for cyclists.
After almost five decades of road traffic, the Schlossberg tunnel was in need of renovation. The necessary work was carried out parallel to the redesign of the school building square. The city of Baden paid 47.3 million of the costs of 94.7 million francs (for both projects together). In a local referendum on November 27, 2011, the project was approved with a yes share of 59.7%. Two weeks later, the Aargau government council approved the cantonal contribution. The renovation began in July 2015 and was completed in April 2018. The renovation of the tunnel garage was delayed, so that it could only be used for public bus transport out of town from April 29, 2019.
literature
- Fabian Furter, Bruno Meier , Andrea Schaer, Ruth Wiederkehr: City history of Baden . here + now , Baden 2015, ISBN 978-3-03919-341-7 .
- Otto Mittler : History of the City of Baden . tape 2 : From 1650 to the present . Sauerländer , Aarau 1965.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mittler: History of the City of Baden. Pp. 237-238.
- ↑ Mittler: History of the City of Baden. Pp. 239-240.
- ↑ Mittler: History of the City of Baden. P. 240.
- ↑ Mittler: History of the City of Baden. Pp. 241-242.
- ^ Furter: City history of Baden. P. 247.
- ↑ Heitersberg Line. Rail transport in Switzerland, accessed on April 1, 2017 .
- ^ A b Furter: City history of Baden. P. 282.
- ↑ Josef Lampe: The current status of the traffic rehabilitation and its further construction program . In: Baden New Years Papers . tape 37 . Baden-Verlag, Baden 1962.
- ↑ Baden clearly say yes to the redesign of the school building square. Aargauer Zeitung , November 27, 2011, accessed on April 1, 2017 .
- ↑ Aargau government approves major projects in Baden and Koblenz. Aargauer Zeitung , December 9, 2011, accessed April 1, 2017 .
- ↑ Stadtblatt Herbst 2015 (PDF, 748 kB) City of Baden, 2015, accessed on April 1, 2017 .
- ↑ Martin Rupf: The first bus drove through the Schulhausplatz tunnel - we were on board. Badener Tagblatt, May 1, 2019, accessed on November 22, 2019 .