Oberkirchen Viaduct
Coordinates: 49 ° 31 ′ 39 " N , 7 ° 15 ′ 36" E
| Oberkirchen Viaduct | ||
|---|---|---|
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| use | Railway viaduct until 1969, since 1993 bike and hiking trail | |
| Convicted | Fritz-Wunderlich-Weg | |
| Subjugated | Easter Valley | |
| place | Oberkirchen (Freisen) | |
| construction | Basalt stones with reinforced concrete core | |
| overall length | 275 m | |
| height | 30 m | |
| start of building | 1934 | |
| completion | 1935 | |
| opening | 1936 | |
| closure | for rail traffic 1969 | |
| location | ||
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The Oberkirchen viaduct spanning the Ostertal in St. Wendeler Land in Saarland was a railway viaduct on the Türkismühle – Kusel railway line , which was converted into a cycle and hiking path after the railway line was closed. It was built between 1934 and 1935 and is one of the largest stone bridges in Germany, which has been a listed building since 1996.
history
Plans for a continuous railway connection between Landstuhl and Kusel already existed in the 19th century. Construction began from Landstuhl in 1868, and the rails to Türkismühle had been completed by 1888 . Thereafter, the continuation of the project over the topographically difficult route through the Westrich on the edge of the North Palatinate Bergland was suspended for almost 50 years.
In 1934 construction began on the missing section and in the same year on the viaduct near Oberkirchen . It was a targeted NS employment program in such a way that on the eve of the Second World War, the Westrichbahn was to be accorded great strategic and military importance. In 16 months of construction, the Cologne branch of the construction company Polensky & Zöllner, which went bankrupt in 1987, put 16,000 m³ of basalt stones together to form the 275 m long bridge with 12 arches on 11 pillars. In 1935 the viaduct was completed. In 1936 the entire section from Türkismühle to Kusel was opened.
In the years 1969/1970 the Westrichbahn line was closed due to insufficient profitability, and the rails were gradually dismantled (in contrast to the Ostertalbahn crossing 5 km behind the viaduct , whose regular traffic has also been discontinued, but which has been reactivated as a tourist train). From 1971 to 1977 the bridge was temporarily accessible as a viewing platform, but then had to be closed due to dilapidation and fell into disrepair.
The restored bridge became of tourist interest in 1993 with the opening of the 24 km long cycle and hiking trail, which was set up in honor of the Kusel tenor Fritz Wunderlich . The Oberkirchen Viaduct is one of the distinctive stops on this trail, which are highlighted with documentation boards.
literature
- Kurt Hoppstädter: The origin of the Saarland railways . Saarbrücken 1961.
