Schneealpenstollen
| Schneealpenstollen | |
|---|---|
| use | Drinking water tunnel |
| place | Neuberg an der Mürz - Karlgraben - Schwarzau in the mountains - Hinternaßwald |
| length | 9680 m |
| construction | |
| Client | City vienna |
| completion | 1969 |
| Vienna high spring pipelines | |
 Overview map: Schneealpenstollen lower center
|
|
| Coordinates | |
| Beginning of the southern tunnel | 47 ° 40 ′ 46 " N , 15 ° 33 ′ 50" E |
| Northern end of the tunnel | 47 ° 43 '52 " N , 15 ° 39' 58" E |
Map with all coordinates: The Schneealpenstollen is a drinking water tunnel with a length of 9680 meters in Austria. It was built to make the Sieben Quellen (or Karlbachquelle ) from the Neuberg an der Mürz area ( Styria ) and other sources in the upper Mürz Valley usable for Vienna's water supply by introducing it into the 1st Viennese high spring water pipeline near Hinternaßwald ( Lower Austria ) . At least at the time of its construction it was the longest drinking water tunnel in Europe, the construction costs amounted to at least 230 million schillings (about 16.7 million euros).
Seven springs (Karlgraben spring)
The seven springs are located in the Karlgraben in the municipality of Neuberg an der Mürz about 900 meters before its confluence with the Mürz at an altitude of 797 m above sea level. A.
During the fertility measurements, the Karlgraben spring showed an annual average of 300 liters per second on around 150 days; in winter it did not drop below 130 liters per second. At the time of the snowmelt in spring 1965, maximum values of up to 2000 liters per second were measured.
Preparations
The seven springs were already purchased by the city of Vienna in 1899 for their drinking water supply and two project variants were worked out by technicians to make these sources usable for the city, namely
- the construction of a tunnel below the Naßkamm and the subsequent connection to the First Vienna High Spring Pipeline at Hinternaßwald or
- a tunnel construction through the Preiner Gscheid and the connection of the new supply line in Hirschwang on the Rax .
With the completion of the second Viennese high spring water pipeline in 1910, however, it was initially unnecessary to carry out such a project, which would hardly have been possible with the mining methods of the time. The realization of the project was postponed indefinitely.
Those in charge of the City of Vienna revived the old plans after the Second World War because of the increasing demand for water and technical progress in the field of mining, especially since the planned III. Vienna water pipeline was not yet in sight.
Resistance to the project was raised by water rights owners in Mürz and Mur . The reason they cited was the reduction in the amount of water available to them. The City of Vienna finally compensated the operators of 32 hydropower plants on the two rivers mentioned. The province of Styria caused additional problems, which suddenly declared the Karlgraben spring a natural monument. The Mürzwasserverband, however, withdrew its originally made objections.
After extensive preliminary investigations (hydrogeological situation, size of the catchment area, chemical composition and productivity of the seven springs), the water law consensus was reached on the discharge of a maximum of 400 liters of water per second - 300 liters of water per second from the seven springs, the rest from water from the Mountain interior - granted in 1965. In addition, a further 15 liters of water per second were drained and directed to the community of Neuberg an der Mürz.
Construction and plant
Construction of the Schneealpenstollen began on December 6, 1965, on the 8th of the month the two drives were ceremoniously started , and on July 8, 1968, the breakthrough ceremony took place .
The southern end of the tunnel is in the Karlgraben in the municipality of Neuberg an der Mürz in Styria, the northern end of the tunnel in the Reiss Valley near Hinternaßwald in the municipality of Schwarzau im Gebirge in Lower Austria.
A minimum cross-section of 5.6 square meters was necessary in order to enable the tunnel to be driven by means of electric drilling machines, overhead loaders and bunker hoists . The tunnel was to be secured using the Brunner mining method using shotcrete, steel securing arches, warping plates, structural steel grids and anchors.
The geological structure of the approximately 2000 meter high Schneealpe from Werfener layers , Gutensteiner lime and dolomite , Reiflinger lime , Wetterstein lime and dolomite and Gosau conglomerates and breccias . The latter in particular occurred again and again in unpredictable order and intensity due to the mountain-forming movements, and together with water ingress during the tunnel construction - and especially the southern tunnel - caused major problems. For example, the jacking performance fluctuated between 24 meters and 4 meters daily.
North tunneling (Elisabeth tunnel)
From a total tunnel length of 9,680 meters, around 8,100 meters were built from the north, named after the godmother Elisabeth-Tollen . Six months after the start of construction, in July 1968, the 1000-meter mark was reached, and when construction work in the northern gallery was suspended until January 4th, 1967 on December 21, 1966, the gallery was a little longer than three kilometers.
During the construction work there was a water ingress on February 9, 1966 at about 200 to 250 liters per second, which lasted until February 21 and was increasingly weakened. On April 19, 1967, another major water ingress carried around 120 cubic meters of fine quartz sand into the tunnel. Another water ingress on April 20, initially at around 90 liters per second, devastated a large part of the tunnel. It was only from April 25th to the 30th of the month that about 1,300 cubic meters of sludge could be removed. The next noteworthy water ingress occurred on October 24, 1967 at around 50 liters per second. The discharge sank during the winter months, but increased again to around 20 liters per second due to the melting of the snow in April 1968.
On June 14, 1968, the lot limit was reached and the tunneling work stopped. In addition to the securing work carried out during the construction work, work has now begun on the final expansion of the Schneealpenstollen.
South drive (Leopoldinen tunnel)
From a total tunnel length of 9680 meters, around 1580 meters were built from the south, Leopoldinen tunnel according to the godmother. The snow alpine tunnel has a south-north gradient of 2 per thousand. For the construction work in this section, this meant that penetrating water had to be constantly pumped out.
A water ingress with around 200 liters of water per second could only be partially controlled with the use of a tight tunnel lining and the installation of a valve. In the area of this break-in point there were repeated break-ins. Another water ingress on June 20, 1966 at around 80 liters per second increased to around 100 liters per second over the next few days. At the same time, a decrease in the bedding of the seven springs was observed.
Heavy rainfall between July 23rd and 24th, 1966 caused the discharge of the tunnel water to rise to 1,300 liters per second. At the same time, the seven springs increased their discharge to over 2000 liters per second. The water level in the tunnel rose to such an extent that the water flowed out of the mouth hole .
Only after the amount of access had dropped to below 400 liters per second could the work, which was initially aimed at securing the tunnel, be resumed on September 20.
During this time, the decision was made to build an alternative tunnel, which should run 25 meters further away from the source system of the Seven Lakes. Part of the previously constructed 637 meter long tunnel was abandoned and bricked up at first at tunnel meter 545 and later also at tunnel meter 532. The tunneling work on the new tunnel section with a gradient of one per thousand began on October 10, 1966 and October 24 at tunnel meter 488.
After numerous major and two major water ingresses, one of which was attributed to the groundwater system of the Seven Springs, on March 22, 1968, saline gases broke in . However, these ignited early on using a carbide lamp before an explosive gas concentration could form. In order to avert the danger of explosion, however, extensive safety measures were necessary.
After the tunnel breakthrough in July 1968, work on the lining followed, which was more difficult than planned due to the difficult geological situation; it was completed in 1969.
An idea that was not originally planned, but rather arose during the construction work, was approved by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on June 25, 1969: In the middle part of the tunnel, a 6632-meter-long section was bricked up on both sides, around that penetrating from the crevices Damming up water and removing it as required. This section is accessible after emptying through bulkhead doors in the masonry.
In 1970 water was dammed here for the first time. However, since there were leaks, improvements had to be carried out. In 1971 the damming started again. Since 1974 the water from the Karlgraben spring has been fed into the first high spring pipeline.
Connection to the high spring line
The connection to the I. Hochquelleleitung is south of Hinternaßwald . A moated castle was built there at the northern mouth of the tunnel at 772 meters above sea level , from which a pipe string around 1,650 meters long and 700 millimeters in diameter leads to the existing pipeline network of the I. Mountain Spring Pipeline.
Energy generation
Because of the difference in height of 86.5 meters between the northern end of the tunnel and the connection point to the 1st high spring pipeline, the drinking water power station built in 1951 in Hinternaßwald was also expanded. The various official approvals were granted back in 1967.
The electrical energy obtained here was to be used to raise the spring water of the Pfannbauern spring, which was later also to be routed through the Schneealpenstollen, a smaller part of which was to be available to the village of Naßwald - Hinternaßwald was not connected to the NEWAG network due to its remoteness, but completely supplied by the City of Vienna - and the Styrian STEWEAG should take over the greater part . To deliver electricity to Styria, a 20 kilovolt line was laid in addition to telecommunication cables in the Schneealpenstollen.
In Naßwald , where the first power plant was built in the source area of the aqueduct in 1929, a new power plant was put into operation in 2010, which is primarily operated with the drinking water from the Pfannbauern spring and the Schneealpenstollen. The larger water supply also had an impact on the existing drinking water power plants in Hinternaßwald and Hirschwang .
Pfannbauernquelle transfer
The time that could not be worked on the southern section of the Schneealpenstollen due to the ingress of water was used to start the construction of the Pfannbauernquelle overpass.
Work on the 1.2 kilometer long Scheibling tunnel began on July 21, 1967. When the work on the Schneealpen tunnel was possible again, the drive of the now 555 meter deep Scheibling tunnel was stopped. Construction was not continued until 1986 so that, together with the Lärchstein tunnel (2.6 kilometers in length) and the Wetterin tunnel (8.1 kilometers in length), the Pfannbauern spring could also be fed into the I. Vienna High Spring Pipeline.
For reasons of water law, the water from the Pfannbauern spring must be piped separately from that of the Karlgraben spring through the Schneealpenstollen.
Cultural
Sponsorships
Elisabeth Marek, the wife of the Mayor of Vienna, Bruno Marek , acted as tunnel sponsors for the southern section of the tunnel (south tower) and Leopoldine Pfoch, the wife of the responsible city councilor Hubert Pfoch , for the northern section of the tunnel (north tower).
Honors
Around 70 people worked on the construction of each of the two tunnels. On the occasion of the ceremonial breakthrough of the tunnel, Bruno Marek, Mayor of Vienna, awarded some of them several marks of merit.
- Gold Medal of Merit of the State of Vienna:
- Traugott Gattinger (geologist)
- Rudolf Pullmann (master builder)
- Norbert Dinhopl (deputy builder)
- Lorenz Kamesberger (site manager)
- Silver Merit of the State of Vienna:
- Rudolf Kapfenberger (head foreman)
- Josef Gussnigg (Schachtmeister)
- Anton Brunner (construction manager)
- Johann Beiglböck (Schachtmeister)
Commemorative plaque
A two-sided bronze commemorative plaque was made especially for the ceremonial opening of the tunnel .
The design for it comes from the Wiener Wasserwerke, the design and execution by H. Köttensdorfer. The minting took place at the main mint in Vienna.
literature
- Alfred Drennig, Josef Donner: Version and introduction of the "Seven Springs in Karlgraben" in the I. Vienna High Spring Water Pipeline , special reprint from GAS - WASSER - WÄRME , issue 4 and 5/1966.
- Alfred Drennig: The I. Vienna high spring water pipeline. Festschrift, published by the City of Vienna Department 31 - Waterworks on the occasion of the 100th anniversary on October 24, 1973, Jugend und Volk Wien, ISBN 3-7141-6829-X .
- Traugott E. Gattinger: Geology and construction history of the snow alpine tunnel of the I. Vienna high spring pipeline (Styria-Lower Austria). (= Abhandlungen der Geologische Bundesanstalt. Volume 30), 1973 ( full article pdf , geologie.ac.at).
- Manfred Hohn : Feldbahnen in the construction of the Viennese high spring pipelines - railways in the construction of the I. and II. Viennese high spring pipelines, the Schneealpenstollen, the Pfannbauernquelle transfer and the water pipeline power plant Gaming , Bohmann Druck und Verlag Gesellschaft mbH & Co. KG., Vienna, 2007, ISBN 978-3-901983-73-3 .
Evidence and footnotes
- ↑ a b More Styrian water for Vienna - Festive Stallenschlag 1000 meters below the Schneealpen summit . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna July 9, 1968, p. 1 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
- ↑ a b c d Marek triggered two explosions - water reserve for Vienna . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna December 7, 1965, p. 1 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
- ↑ July 7, 1966: "Leopoldinen-Stollen" celebrates the 1,000 meter mark. Page Vienna 1966: reports from July 1966 , wien.at> rk / press> review .
- ↑ according to Lit. Gattinger: Geologie und Baugeschichte ... , p. 38.
- ↑ according to reference Drennig: Festschrift 1973, p. 207.
- ^ Lit. Hohn: Feldbahnen ... , 2007, p. 55.
-
↑ Drinking water power plants. ( Memento of the original from May 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. smartcity.wien.gv.at;
Hydroelectric power plants - Wiener Wasser. wien.gv.at - ^ Lit. Hohn: Feldbahnen ... , 2007, p. 58.
