!!!Semmeringbahn

Semmering Railway, section of the Southern railway between Gloggnitz 
(Lower Austria) and Muerzzuschlag (Styria), 41 km long, 
constructed between 1848 and 1854 by K. v.  Ghega, first mountain 
railway in Europe, still serves as model for mountain railways all 
over the world. The railway circumvents the mountain masses and 
systematically follows the valleys to reach the summit (first ramp 
railway). Carried by 16 viaducts that are supported by several arches, 
the Semmering railway crosses valleys and gorges, runs through 15 
tunnels and reaches its highest point at 897 metres in the main tunnel 
(1,430 metres long, then considered the most famous building of 
its kind). Maximum gradient is 25 metres over a distance of 1,000 
metres (= 1 in 40, the maximum gradient was formerly 
1 in 200). Construction of the Semmering railway, a pure 
adhesion railway, proved that railway lines can be built across 
mountain ranges. The construction of a  Semmering-Basistunnel has been 
provisionally suspended. In 1998 the Semmering railway was placed on 
the UNESCO World Heritage List

!Literature
R. Mauterer, Semmeringbahn Daten, Fakten, Propaganda, 
1990; M. Kubinszky et al., Architektur an der Semmeringbahn, 
1992.


%%language
[Back to the Austrian Version|AEIOU/Semmeringbahn|class='wikipage austrian']
%%

[{FreezeArticle author='AEIOU' template='Lexikon_1995_englisch'}]
[{ALLOW view All}][{ALLOW comment All}][{ALLOW edit FreezeAdmin}]