Rhine-Herne Canal
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The Rhein-Herne Canal (German: Rhein-Herne-Kanal) is a 45.6 kilometer (28.3 mile) long transportation canal in the Ruhr area of Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, with five canal locks. The canal was built over a period of eight years (5 April 1906 - 14 July 1914) and connects the harbour in Duisburg on the Rhein with the Dortmund-Ems Canal, following the valley of the Emscher. It was widened in the 1980s. The Rhein-Herne canal ship was designed specifically for this canal; normally of about 1300-1350 ton capacity, it has a maximum draft of 2.50 meters, a length of approximately 80 meters, and maximum beam of 9.50 meters.
Originally the Rhein-Herne channel ended in Herne, where it met the transportation canal running from Henrichenburg to Herne, the intersection situated just above the East Herne lock. After the closure of the last part of the Henrichenburg to Herne canal, i.e. the section from the port at the Friedrich der Große coal mine to Station Street in Herne, the Henrichenburg-Herne section of the Rhein-Herne Canal was also closed. Route A42 of the Federal Motorways now partly follows the route of the disused canal, from the east side of the bridge over Station Street to the bridge over the Landwehrbach in Herne.
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[edit] Water system
The distribution of water in the canal is realised through five pump stations. Located at Duisburg-Meiderich, Oberhausen, Gelsenkirchen, Wanne-Eickel and East Herne, they pump water from the Rhein into the canal at each stage. As well as this, water from the Lippe river to the east is brought in through the Datteln-Hamm canal.
[edit] Locks
[edit] Duisburg-Meiderich Lock
In 1980 the current lock was completed, including a 24 metre high under-gate and control platform, which has now become a visible yellow landmark in the Ruhr landscape. The intended harbour of the old lock is today underwater and part of the foundations of the canal walls. This harbour was meant to be a possible spot for the eventual significant reconstruction of the lock, but it was never used for this purpose.
