Viaducto La Polvorilla
Coordinates: 24 ° 12 ′ 10 " S , 66 ° 24 ′ 53" W
| Viaducto La Polvorilla | ||
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| Convicted | Salta – Antofagasta railway line | |
| Subjugated | Ruta Nacional 40 | |
| place | near San Antonio de los Cobres | |
| construction | Scaffold pier viaduct | |
| overall length | 224 m | |
| height | 63 m | |
| start of building | 1930 | |
| completion | 1932 | |
| location | ||
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The Viaducto La Polvorilla is the most famous of the viaducts of the Ramal C-14 , the Argentine section of the Salta – Antofagasta railway between Salta and Socompa . The Tren a las nubes ( train to the clouds ) runs on part of the route and crosses the viaduct.
The viaduct stands at an altitude of 4,200 m on the single-track line that rises to its apex just a few kilometers away. It is about 17 kilometers by road or 21.5 kilometers by road from San Antonio de los Cobres , which is 3775 m above sea level .
The steel scaffolding pier viaduct standing in a curve is 224 m long. The track is 63 m above the Ruta Nacional 40 , which here is a narrow gravel road in a narrow, largely bare valley. Narrow emergency routes with railings are mounted on both sides of the track.
The track girder consists of two solid wall girders that are stiffened by horizontal wind bracing . These girders span 7 openings each 20 m wide and 6 scaffolding pillars each 14 m wide.
For the tourists of the Tren a las nubes a platform was built at the east end of the bridge, on which souvenirs are offered.
The railway line was planned and built from 1921 by the American engineer Richard Maury for the development of the local borax deposits. However, the completion was repeatedly interrupted by political and financial problems.
The viaduct was built between 1930 and 1932, but did not go into operation until 1938. The approximately 1,600 tons of steel for the bridge were produced by the Cantiere Navale Triestino of the Cosulich family in Italy , shipped to Buenos Aires and transported 1,600 km overland to the construction site.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ The information varies between 4280 m, 4200 m and 4188 m
- ↑ Path measurement in Google Earth
- ^ Tomás A. del Carril: Bridge Engineering in Argentina: La Polvorilla Viaduct . In: Wai-Fah Chen, Lian Duan (Eds.): Handbook of International Bridge Engineering . CRC Press, Boca Raton 2014, ISBN 978-1-4398-1029-3 , pp. 152 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ Karen Naundorf: Until the breath catches. In: DIE ZEIT of March 19, 2009