Salzgitter branch canal

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Salzgitter branch canal
abbreviation SKS
location Germany: Lower Saxony
length 17.9 km
Built 1938-1940
class Vb
Beginning Branch from the Mittelland Canal
The End Salzgitter harbor
Descent structures Wedtlenstedt, Üfingen
Kilometrage Ascending towards Salzgitter
Downhill Towards the Mittelland Canal
Competent authority WSA Mittelland Canal / Elbe Lateral Canal
Salzgitter branch canal at the port of Beddingen 2006 PC030070.jpg
Salzgitter branch canal
The Salzgitter branch canal near Sonnenberg , Vechelde municipality

The Salzgitter branch canal (SKS) is a federal waterway that connects the Mittelland Canal with the port facilities of the city of Salzgitter .

history

The canal was built to connect the Hüttenwerk Hermann Göring (today Salzgitter AG ) to the already existing Mittelland Canal . The first plans were made in August 1937. Construction began on April 4, 1938, and the entire branch sewer was put into operation on December 2, 1940.

On April 10, 1945, the commander of the 30th US Infantry Division, Major General Leland Hobbs , negotiated unsuccessfully with the commander of the city of Braunschweig , Lieutenant General Karl Veith , at the canal lock near Wedtlenstedt about the surrender of Braunschweig. Braunschweig was occupied without a fight until two days later.

description

f1Georeferencing Map with all linked sites: OSM | WikiMap

Bridge over the Salzgitter branch canal between
Beddingen and Bleckenstedt

The Salzgitter branch canal is a federal waterway for which the newly created waterways and shipping office Mittellandkanal / Elbe-Seitenkanal has been responsible since February 5, 2020 (previously the Waterways and Shipping Office Braunschweig).

The canal extends for around 18 km in a north-south orientation, branches off to the south at the Mittelland Canal at km 213.5 at Wendeburg and is located around 10 km west of Braunschweig. From the Mittelland Canal to the outer harbor of the Wedtlenstedt lock (SKS-km 4.6), the canal is built with sheet pile walls ; on the rest of the stretch, the canal bank is mostly paved with loose stone fill. In the Salzgitter branch canal, the Wedtlenstedt locks overcome a water level difference of 9.3 m and the Üfingen locks a water level difference of 9.0 m between the Mittelland Canal ( 65  m above sea level ) and the port of Salzgitter ( 83.3  m above sea level ).

Originally, the canal was planned for tug shipping with 1,000 t barges (the monopoly operation of the Reich and Federal Towing Operation was operated until 1966). Since tow trains were expected from both directions of the Mittelland Canal (west and east), the branch from the Mittelland Canal was created at right angles to it and in a funnel shape. On both banks of the Mittelland Canal, berths were planned as canal widening in the branch area , which were later used by tug shipping to take over operating materials.

From 1965, the Mittelland Canal and its branch canals were expanded for waterway class IV. The SKS was adapted to the traffic with modern inland waterways . The background to this was the foreseeable task of ore mining in the Peine- Salzgitter area in the mid-1970s, the opening of the Elbe Lateral Canal (ESK) in 1976 and thus the creation of an inexpensive transport route for the procurement of foreign ores through the steelworks in Salzgitter. The ESK opened the traffic of fully (2.50 m deep) unloaded ships with 1,350 t of cargo from Hamburg to Salzgitter. For this purpose, the SKS also had to be adapted promptly through appropriate structural changes, namely:

  • Increasing the clearance height at the lower head of the eastern chamber of both locks and at bridges,
  • Increasing the jamb depths of the locks ,
  • Enlargement of the water-bearing cross-section.

The enlargement of the water-carrying cross-section according to the specifications of the main canal was implemented below the Wedtlenstedt lock. The original trough profile was replaced by a rectangular profile 39 m wide and 4.0 m deep; the bank walls are built using sheet pile construction. In the subsequent sections of Wedtlenstedt and Üfingen, the original trough profile was retained and the water level was raised by 0.3 m, so that the water depth in the canal axis is 3.8 m. The clearance for shipping with vehicles 2.80 m deep and 9.50 m wide in 1995 has so far not led to any major complaints.The weak point for the traffic of large vehicles (around 11.40 m width) is the main entrance of the locks along with the route a cross-sectional area F = 39.60 m².

Due to the steadily increasing importance of traffic, plans are currently underway to expand the SKS for ships that are 11.45 m wide and 2.80 m unloaded. In this context, the west chambers of the Wedtlenstedt and Üfingen locks are to be rebuilt. In addition to the reconstruction of the heads and the adaptation of the lower gates, widening of the chambers is also planned.

Locks

Wedtlenstedt double shaft lock

East chamber of the Wedtlenstedt lock

The Wedtlenstedt lock was built with two identical chambers. The eastern chamber was adapted to the dimensions of large motor cargo ships from 1975 to 1976 .

Wedtlenstedt double shaft lock
Location: km 4.6
Geographical location: Wedtlenstedt ( Vechelde municipality )
( )
Service: Control center Wedtlenstedt
Drop height : 9.30 m
Western chamber Eastern Chamber
Saving basin : without a saving basin without a saving basin
Built: 1938-1940 1938-1940
Usable length: 225 m 220 m
Width: 12.00 m 12.00 m
Clearance height: 4.55 m 6.00 m
Unloading depth: 2.10 m 2.70 m

Ufingen double-shaft lock

Lock Üfingen

The Üfingen lock was built as a double-shaft lock with two identical chambers. The eastern chamber was adapted to the dimensions of large motor cargo ships from 1975 to 1976.

Ufingen double-shaft lock
Location: km 10.7
Geographical location: Üfingen ( City of Salzgitter )
( )
Service: Control center Wedtlenstedt
Drop height: 9.30 m
Western chamber Eastern Chamber
Saving basin: without a saving basin without a saving basin
Built: 1938-1940 1938-1940
Usable length: 225 m 220 m
Width: 12.00 m 12.00 m
Clearance height: 4.25 m 5.50 m
Unloading depth: 2.20 m 2.70 m

Marinas

  • Heidanger marina at km 3.2. Wedtlenstedt (municipality of Vechelde), 90 berths.

Web links

Commons : Stichkanal Salzgitter  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b Lengths (in km) of the main shipping lanes (main routes and certain secondary routes) of the federal inland waterways ( Memento of the original from January 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wsv.de
  2. ^ NN : Four years of Hermann-Göring-Werke Salzgitter 1938–1941 . Melchior-Verlag, Wolfenbüttel 2009, ISBN 978-3-941555-06-8 (reprint of the original edition / anniversary edition from 1941).
  3. ^ Karl-Joachim Krause: Braunschweig between war and peace . The events before and after the capitulation of the city on April 12, 1945. Johann Heinrich Meyer Verlag, Braunschweig 1994, ISBN 3-926701-22-6 , p. 43-44 .
  4. Directory E. Ser. No. 33 of the Chronicle ( Memento of the original from July 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wsv.de
  5. ADAC Marinaportal , accessed on July 15, 2018

Coordinates: 52 ° 10 ′ 40 ″  N , 10 ° 24 ′ 50 ″  E