Landrückentunnel
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The Landrückentunnel is a railway tunnel on the Hanover-Würzburg high-speed rail line. With a length of 10 779 m it is the longest tunnel in Germany.
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[edit] Geography
The tunnel is in east Hessen between the stations of Fulda and Würzburg. Between the northern tunnel entrance of Kalbach (50° 24′ 22″N, 9° 39′3″E) and the southern end at Mottgers (50° 18′35″N, 9° 39′47″E) it crosses the Landrücken range which forms the Rhein-Weser drainage divide dividing the river basins of the Fulda and Main.
[edit] Description of tunnel
The double-track Landrückentunnel was built using the New Austrian Tunnelling method working from the north portal, known as "Baulos Nord" and two side accesses ("Baulos Mitte" and "Baulos Süd"). In addition, three shafts were established for ventilation during tunnel boring.
The tunnel opened in 1988 with a total tunnel cross section of 100 to 110 m² and a maximum 1.25% gradient. It surpassed the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Tunnel near Cochem as the longest railway tunnel in Germany.
Outside the north portal of the tunnel, at 380m altitude is the summit of the Hanover-Würzburg high-speed rail line.
[edit] Technical data
- length: 10 779m
- year of opening: 1988
- tracks: two
- track separation: 4.70m
- tunnel cross section area: 100 to 110 m²
- steepest gradient: 1.25%
- speed limit: 250km/h
- equipment: Electrified, LZB signalling, "Zugfunk" radio, GSM-R, BOS-Funk, C-Netz (from 1992 to 2000), GSM900/1800 (T-mobile, Vodafone and Eplus since the middle of 2006), FM radio, wind direction measuring system, two emergency exits)
[edit] Accidents
On April 26, 2008 at 9:05pm, ICE train 885 derailed inside the tunnel on its way from Hamburg to Munich with 170 people on board. The train collided with a herd of sheep that strayed in the tunnel. 25 people were injured, 14 of the 16 cars were derailed. [1].
[edit] Distelrasen-Tunnel
A few kilometers west of the Landrückentunnel, near Schlüchtern-Elm, the Distelrasen-Tunnel, built in 1914, was the first railway to traverse the Landrücken drainage divide.
