The Solis Viaduct (german: Soliser Viadukt) is a single track eleven-arched limestone railway

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 v ...

. It spans the

Albula Albula may refer to: Places *Albula, an old (possibly legendary) name of the Tiber river Switzerland *Albula Range, a mountain range *Albula (river), a tributary of the Hinterrhein *Albula District, a district in canton Graubünden until 2017 ** ...

east of the hamlet of

Solis Solis is a Spanish name derived from the Latin sol, literally meaning sun. Solis, Solís, de Solís, or de Solis may refer to: * ''Solis'' (film), a 2018 film directed by Carl Strathie * Solís, a fictional country in the 2018 video game ''Just ...

, in the

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

of Graubünden,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Designed by the engineer Hans Studer, it was built in 1902 by Munari, Cayre und Marasi for the Rhaetian Railway, which still owns and uses it today. One of the most important structures on the World Heritage-listed Albula Railway, it is high, long, and has a main span of .

Location

The Solis Viaduct forms part of the Albula Railway section between Thusis and Tiefencastel, and is at the mark from Thusis. East of the viaduct is the

Stausee Solis The Stausee Solis ("Solis reservoir") is a reservoir on the Albula river, located between Alvaschein, Stierva and Tiefencastel, in the canton of Graubünden. Geography Its surface area is . It was built in 1986 by the Electric Power Company ...

Description

The limestone-built

was conceived by Hans Studer as the first stone arch bridge in Switzerland to be designed in accordance with the elasticity theory. That choice of design allowed the use of a parabolic arch, and thus a very slim form of construction. Building costs could thereby be limited to 125,000 Swiss francs at 1902 prices. With its height of , the Solis Viaduct is the highest on the Rhaetian Railway. It consists of a main span of flanked by 10 other spans ranging from to .

Renovation

In 1997, the

was renovated at great expense. The previous isolation between the gravel bed and walls was filled in by a new sealing system, incorporating liquid plastic film and shotcrete. In addition, the rails and ballast were renewed.

Gallery

File:Schinschlucht2.jpg, Schin gorge with the viaduct. File:Solisbruecke.jpg, A closer view of the viaduct File:Soliser Viadukt neues Wappen 01 09.jpg, The new Graubünden coat of arms sculpture on the main span. File:Solis Viaduct, Schinschlucht and Solis dam, aerial video.webm, thumbtime=1:02, Aerial video of Solis Viaduct.

References

*See the references in Soliser Viadukt (de Wikipedia)

External links