The Gründjitobel Viaduct (or Gründjitobel Bridge; ) is a single track reinforced concrete

railway bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somet ...

, spanning the Gründjitobelbach near Langwies, in the

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...

of Graubünden, Switzerland. Designed by Hermann Schürch, it was built between late June 1913 and early July 1914 by Müller, Zeerleder und Gobat, for the Chur–Arosa railway. It is now owned and used by the Rhaetian Railway.

Location

The

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide ...

is located on the Rhaetian Railway's

metre gauge Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

line from

Chur '' Chur (locally) or ; ; ; ; ; ; or ; , and . is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, town of the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of the Grisons and lies in the Alpine Rhine, Grisonian Rhine Valley, where ...

to the holiday and recreation resort of

Arosa Arosa is a List of towns in Switzerland, town and a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Plessur Region in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. It is both a summer and a winter tourist resort. On 1 January 2013, the former mu ...

(the

Chur-Arosa The Rhaetian Railway (; ; ), abbreviated RhB, is a Swiss transport company that owns the largest network of all private railway operators in Switzerland. Headquartered in Chur, the RhB operates all the railway lines of the Cantons of Switzerland, ...

line), between

Peist Peist is a former municipality in the district of Plessur in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipalities of Peist, Calfreisen, Castiel, Langwies, Lüen, Molinis and St. Peter-Pagig merged into the mu ...

and

Langwies Langwies is a former Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Plessur District, Plessur in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipalities of Langwies, Calfreisen, ...

, at a place known as Matten-Gründji. It leads the railway line over the Gründjitobel, a steeply eroded gravel

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and Rock (geology), rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a gla ...

gorge, with sandy formations known as "Steimannli".

History

Due to the difficult geological conditions in Schanfigg, a total of 18 tunnels and 40 bridges needed to be created between 1912 and 1914 for the privately built Chur-Arosa line. Most of the bridges were constructed in the classical manner, in stone, which was often available in sufficient quantities in the nearby Plessur River valley. In places where the building conditions were especially unpromising, iron bridges were created. A completely new building method came to be used near Gründji, due to the distance to be overcome by the Gründjitobel Viaduct, and also by the Langwieser Viaduct, located only a short distance to the southeast. At each of these points, instead of a bridge with many multiple openings, a sensational reinforced concrete structure arose with a large single span. The risk that piers might be undermined by the course of the river could thus be met successfully; since the completion of the Chur-Arosa line, the Gründjitobel Viaduct has only rarely been harmed by erosion.

Technical data

The Gründjitobel Viaduct is long. The main span consists of an arch with an long span, and a rise of above the valley floor. The whole build of the structure proceeded virtually trouble free, and could be completed in just one year. Together with the larger Langwieser Viaduct, which can be considered its prototype, the Gründjitobel Viaduct was, as at the date of its completion, one of the longest spanning railway bridges in the world. The

falsework Falsework consists of temporary structures used in construction to support a permanent structure until its construction is sufficiently advanced to support itself. For arches, this is specifically called centering. Falsework includes temporary ...

, which had already been used in the construction of the Halen Bridge in

Kirchlindach Kirchlindach is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History The name ''Lindenacho'' (for Kirchlindach) first appeared in writing on 2 October 1185, when Pope Lucius III affirmed l ...

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

, originated, as with the Langwieser Viaduct, from Richard Coray of

Trin Trin is a municipality in the Imboden Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. Crestasee is located in Trin. History Trin is first mentioned in the 12th century as ''Turunnio''. Geography Trin is perched on the mountain-side above the ...

. The structure was built by the firm Müller, Zeerleder und Gobat.

Gallery

Image:Schanfigg_westlich.jpg, The Gründjitobel and the Steimannli from the east Image:Gründjiviadukt09.jpg, View from the Gründjitobel towards the viaduct Image:Gründjiviadukt03.jpg, View from Gründji Image:Gründjiviadukt2.jpg, The viaduct with the Arosa Express

References

*See the list of references in Gründjitobel-Viadukt (de Wikipedia) .

External links