Göltzsch Viaduct
Encyclopedia
The Göltzsch Viaduct is a railway bridge in Germany. It is the largest brick-built bridge in the world, and for a time it was the tallest railway bridge in the world. It spans the valley of the Göltzsch River between Mylau
and Netzschkau
, around 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) east of Reichenbach im Vogtland in the German
Free State of Saxony
. It was built between 1846 and 1851 as part of the railway between Saxony (Leipzig
, Zwickau
, and Plauen
) and Bavaria
(Hof
and Nuremberg
). It is currently part of the Leipzig–Hof line, near the Netzschkau station. About 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south, the Elster Viaduct
was built for the same line and is quite similar to the Göltzsch Viaduct.
Göltzsch Viaduct is also the name of a much smaller viaduct built in 1938 where Bundesautobahn 72
crosses the Göltzsch River. It sits about 10 km (6 mi) due southeast near the village of Weissensand.
Göltzsch Viaduct (previously Mylau Central Station) was also the name of a terminus opened in 1895 on the Reichenbach–Göltzsch Viaduct railway in the Göltzsch valley below the railway bridge. From here, trains departed to the central station of Reichenbach im Vogtland and to Lengenfeld
.
s. However, none of the 81 submissions could prove by means of structural analysis
that it would be able to withstand the stresses of rail traffic on the bridge. The prize money was eventually divided among four contestants, but none of their designs were actually realized.
The chairman of the jury, professor Johann Andreas Schubert
subsequently designed a bridge himself, making use of his recently attained knowledge of structural analysis, and letting himself be inspired by the submitted designs and the viaduct
in Leubnitz (Werdau), which was finished in the summer of 1845, making it the first bridge in the world to be subjected to a full structural analysis. It was planned to build the bridge mainly out of brick
s, at the time a highly unusual choice, because of the abundance of loam
in the vicinity, which allowed for rapid and cost-efficient production of bricks. Granite
was to be used only for certain crucial segments.
The first stone was laid on 31 May 1846. The plans were revised just once after construction began, when certain technical difficulties arose. For instance, the foundation on which the bridge was to be built turned out to be less firm than previously assumed. Chief engineer Robert Wilke solved this by replacing the arches in the middle with one great central arch, which only added to the impressiveness of this edifice.
The Göltzsch Viaduct was an extraordinarily large endeavor for its time. Each day, the nearly 20 brickyard
s along the railway line would produce 50,000 bricks with the unusual dimensions 28 x. The scaffolding
was made out of 23,000 tree trunks, although other sources even speak of 230,000 trunks. In total, 1,736 construction workers built the bridge, with 31 on-site fatalities. When the bridge was completed and inaugurated on 15 July 1851, it was world's tallest railway bridge. Today, it still holds the record for largest brick bridge in the world.
with a parapet
allowed the railway track to become wider.
During the later days of World War II
, the Wehrmacht
intended to blow up the bridge with explosives. This plan was eventually not executed.
Between 1955 and 1958, the masonry
was completely restored. It would take until 1977 until all work, including smaller jobs such as the placement of steel cover plates, was completed.
The Göltzsch Viaduct is part of the so-called Saxon-Franconian trunk line
(Sachsen-Franken-Magistrale), which was restored
from 1997 through to 2000. This allows tilting train
s to use this trajectory, which can reach speeds of up to 160 kilometres per hour (99.4 mph) even on curved tracks.
Around the bridge, many roads allow a good impression of the actual magnitude of this masterpiece of engineering. It used to be possible to see the surroundings from a helium balloon at an altitude of 150 metres (492.1 ft), as well as the nearby Mylau Castle
and Netzschkau Castle. In August 2007 the tourist attraction was discontinued because the necessary repairs had become too expensive.
Besides famous, the bridge is also infamous for its reputation as a suicide bridge
, as many have taken their lives by plunging themselves off the bridge over the past 150 years. In August 2001, three teenagers from Reichenbach im Vogtland jumped off. The 2002 documentary film
Teuflische Spiele (Diabolical Games) pictures the lives of the group of friends that stayed behind, and their attempts to get to terms with the events. After 8 suicides in just 8 months in 2002, the Federal Police increased supervision.
Between 2006 and 2008, Deutsche Bahn
invested 2.2 million Euro
in a new elevator system for maintenance work on the bridge.
In June 2009, the German engineers' guild declared the Göltzsch Viaduct along with the Fernsehturm Stuttgart
as historical milestone of engineering. This title was previously awarded in 2007 to the Niederfinow boat lift
.
In mid 2010, construction work has started for the electrification
of the track between Reichenbach im Vogtland and Hof. For about 16 months, only one track can be used for rail transport
. The top of the bridge will be replaced by reinforced concrete
, which will support the masts that carry the overhead lines
.
Mylau
Mylau is a town in the Vogtlandkreis district, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany with 2912 citizens. It is situated in the valleys of the Göltzsch river and the Raumbach, a stream flowing from Reichenbach im Vogtland that is locally known as the Soap Stream because of the textile painting...
and Netzschkau
Netzschkau
Netzschkau is a town in the Vogtlandkreis district, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated 6 km southeast of Greiz, and 21 km southwest of Zwickau....
, around 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) east of Reichenbach im Vogtland in the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Free State of Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
. It was built between 1846 and 1851 as part of the railway between Saxony (Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, Zwickau
Zwickau
Zwickau in Germany, former seat of the government of the south-western region of the Free State of Saxony, belongs to an industrial and economical core region. Nowadays it is the capital city of the district of Zwickau...
, and Plauen
Plauen
Plauen is a town in the Free State of Saxony, east-central Germany.It is the capital of the Vogtlandkreis. The town is situated near the border of Bavaria and the Czech Republic.Plauen's slogan is Plauen - echt Spitze.-History:...
) and Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
(Hof
Hof, Germany
Hof is a city located on the banks of the Saale in the northeastern corner of the German state of Bavaria, in the Franconia region, at the Czech border and the forested Fichtelgebirge and Frankenwald upland regions....
and Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
). It is currently part of the Leipzig–Hof line, near the Netzschkau station. About 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south, the Elster Viaduct
Elster Viaduct
The Elster Viaduct is a railway bridge in the German state of Saxony. It carries the Leipzig–Hof line near Jocketa over the valley of the Weiße Elster. After the Göltzsch Viaduct it is the second largest brick bridge in the world...
was built for the same line and is quite similar to the Göltzsch Viaduct.
Göltzsch Viaduct is also the name of a much smaller viaduct built in 1938 where Bundesautobahn 72
Bundesautobahn 72
is an motorway in Germany. Construction of the autobahn started in the 1930s, but was halted by the outbreak of World War II. Due to the division of Germany, a part of the autobahn lay in ruins until after German reunification.- Exit list :...
crosses the Göltzsch River. It sits about 10 km (6 mi) due southeast near the village of Weissensand.
Göltzsch Viaduct (previously Mylau Central Station) was also the name of a terminus opened in 1895 on the Reichenbach–Göltzsch Viaduct railway in the Göltzsch valley below the railway bridge. From here, trains departed to the central station of Reichenbach im Vogtland and to Lengenfeld
Lengenfeld
Lengenfeld is a town in the Vogtlandkreis district, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. During World War II, a subcamp of Flossenburg concentration camp was located here. The town is situated 19 km southwest of Zwickau, and 18 km northeast of Plauen....
.
History and construction
One of the greatest challenges in constructing a railway between Saxony and Bavaria was how to bridge the Göltzsch valley. Hoping to find a financially feasible construction plan, the Saxon-Bavarian Railway Company announced a contest on 27 January 1845 in all major German magazines with prize money of 1000 ThalerThaler
The Thaler was a silver coin used throughout Europe for almost four hundred years. Its name lives on in various currencies as the dollar or tolar. Etymologically, "Thaler" is an abbreviation of "Joachimsthaler", a coin type from the city of Joachimsthal in Bohemia, where some of the first such...
s. However, none of the 81 submissions could prove by means of structural analysis
Structural analysis
Structural analysis is the determination of the effects of loads on physical structures and their components. Structures subject to this type of analysis include all that must withstand loads, such as buildings, bridges, vehicles, machinery, furniture, attire, soil strata, prostheses and...
that it would be able to withstand the stresses of rail traffic on the bridge. The prize money was eventually divided among four contestants, but none of their designs were actually realized.
The chairman of the jury, professor Johann Andreas Schubert
Johann Andreas Schubert
Johann-Andreas Schubert was a German general engineer , designer and university lecturer.- Life :Schubert was born on 19 March 1808 in Wernesgrün in the state of Saxony in Germany...
subsequently designed a bridge himself, making use of his recently attained knowledge of structural analysis, and letting himself be inspired by the submitted designs and the viaduct
Viaduct
A viaduct is a bridge composed of several small spans. The term viaduct is derived from the Latin via for road and ducere to lead something. However, the Ancient Romans did not use that term per se; it is a modern derivation from an analogy with aqueduct. Like the Roman aqueducts, many early...
in Leubnitz (Werdau), which was finished in the summer of 1845, making it the first bridge in the world to be subjected to a full structural analysis. It was planned to build the bridge mainly out of brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
s, at the time a highly unusual choice, because of the abundance of loam
Loam
Loam is soil composed of sand, silt, and clay in relatively even concentration . Loam soils generally contain more nutrients and humus than sandy soils, have better infiltration and drainage than silty soils, and are easier to till than clay soils...
in the vicinity, which allowed for rapid and cost-efficient production of bricks. Granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
was to be used only for certain crucial segments.
The first stone was laid on 31 May 1846. The plans were revised just once after construction began, when certain technical difficulties arose. For instance, the foundation on which the bridge was to be built turned out to be less firm than previously assumed. Chief engineer Robert Wilke solved this by replacing the arches in the middle with one great central arch, which only added to the impressiveness of this edifice.
The Göltzsch Viaduct was an extraordinarily large endeavor for its time. Each day, the nearly 20 brickyard
Brickyard
A brickyard is a place or yard where the earthen building material called bricks are made, fired, and stored, or sometimes sold or otherwise distributed from.-See also:...
s along the railway line would produce 50,000 bricks with the unusual dimensions 28 x. The scaffolding
Scaffolding
Scaffolding is a temporary structure used to support people and material in the construction or repair of buildings and other large structures. It is usually a modular system of metal pipes or tubes, although it can be from other materials...
was made out of 23,000 tree trunks, although other sources even speak of 230,000 trunks. In total, 1,736 construction workers built the bridge, with 31 on-site fatalities. When the bridge was completed and inaugurated on 15 July 1851, it was world's tallest railway bridge. Today, it still holds the record for largest brick bridge in the world.
Key people
- Professor Johann Andreas SchubertJohann Andreas SchubertJohann-Andreas Schubert was a German general engineer , designer and university lecturer.- Life :Schubert was born on 19 March 1808 in Wernesgrün in the state of Saxony in Germany...
(1808–1870) – Chairman of the jury, architect, structural analyst - Chief engineer Robert Wilke (1804–1889) – Construction planner and chief superintendentSuperintendent (construction)On larger projects, it is common for most finance-related tasks and long-term scheduling to be handled by a project manager, with the superintendent's job limited to running the day-to-day operations on the construction site and controlling the short-term schedule...
- Engineer Ferdinand Dost (1810–1888) – Superintendent
- PharmacistPharmacistPharmacists are allied health professionals who practice in pharmacy, the field of health sciences focusing on safe and effective medication use...
and chemistChemistA chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
Heinrich Carl – MortarMortar (masonry)Mortar is a workable paste used to bind construction blocks together and fill the gaps between them. The blocks may be stone, brick, cinder blocks, etc. Mortar becomes hard when it sets, resulting in a rigid aggregate structure. Modern mortars are typically made from a mixture of sand, a binder...
composition
Recent history
In 1930, a top layer of reinforced concreteReinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
with a parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
allowed the railway track to become wider.
During the later days of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
intended to blow up the bridge with explosives. This plan was eventually not executed.
Between 1955 and 1958, the masonry
Masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...
was completely restored. It would take until 1977 until all work, including smaller jobs such as the placement of steel cover plates, was completed.
The Göltzsch Viaduct is part of the so-called Saxon-Franconian trunk line
Saxon-Franconian trunk line
Saxon-Franconian trunk line is a modern term for a double-track railway between the German cities of Dresden to Nuremberg. The line is 390 kilometres long and is currently electrified from Dresden to Reichenbach im Vogtland...
(Sachsen-Franken-Magistrale), which was restored
Building restoration
Building restoration describes a particular treatment approach and philosophy within the field of architectural conservation. According the U.S...
from 1997 through to 2000. This allows tilting train
Tilting train
A tilting train is a train that has a mechanism enabling increased speed on regular rail tracks. As a train rounds a curve at speed, objects inside the train experience centrifugal force. This can cause packages to slide about or seated passengers to feel squashed by the outboard armrest due to...
s to use this trajectory, which can reach speeds of up to 160 kilometres per hour (99.4 mph) even on curved tracks.
Around the bridge, many roads allow a good impression of the actual magnitude of this masterpiece of engineering. It used to be possible to see the surroundings from a helium balloon at an altitude of 150 metres (492.1 ft), as well as the nearby Mylau Castle
Mylau Castle
Mylau Castle is a fortification on a spur in Mylau, Vogtland, Saxony, Germany. It is one of the best-preserved medieval castles in Saxony.- History :...
and Netzschkau Castle. In August 2007 the tourist attraction was discontinued because the necessary repairs had become too expensive.
Besides famous, the bridge is also infamous for its reputation as a suicide bridge
Suicide bridge
A suicide bridge is a bridge used frequently to die by suicide, most typically by jumping off and into the water below ....
, as many have taken their lives by plunging themselves off the bridge over the past 150 years. In August 2001, three teenagers from Reichenbach im Vogtland jumped off. The 2002 documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Teuflische Spiele (Diabolical Games) pictures the lives of the group of friends that stayed behind, and their attempts to get to terms with the events. After 8 suicides in just 8 months in 2002, the Federal Police increased supervision.
Between 2006 and 2008, Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
invested 2.2 million Euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
in a new elevator system for maintenance work on the bridge.
In June 2009, the German engineers' guild declared the Göltzsch Viaduct along with the Fernsehturm Stuttgart
Fernsehturm Stuttgart
The Fernsehturm Stuttgart is the world's first TV tower built from concrete ....
as historical milestone of engineering. This title was previously awarded in 2007 to the Niederfinow boat lift
Niederfinow boat lift
The Niederfinow boat lift is the oldest working boat lift in Germany. It lies on the Oder-Havel-Kanal near Niederfinow in Brandenburg. The lift overcomes a difference in elevation of 36 metres.- History :...
.
In mid 2010, construction work has started for the electrification
Railway electrification system
A railway electrification system supplies electrical energy to railway locomotives and multiple units as well as trams so that they can operate without having an on-board prime mover. There are several different electrification systems in use throughout the world...
of the track between Reichenbach im Vogtland and Hof. For about 16 months, only one track can be used for rail transport
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
. The top of the bridge will be replaced by reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
, which will support the masts that carry the overhead lines
Overhead lines
Overhead lines or overhead wires are used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains at a distance from the energy supply point...
.
External links
- www.goeltzschtalbruecke.de Privately held Web site with photos and information on the Göltzsch Viaduct.