Gründjitobel Viaduct

Gründjitobel Viaduct Gründjitobel-Viadukt
Gründjitobel Viaduct in winter
Coordinates	46°49′29″N 09°41′30″E / 46.82472°N 9.69167°E / 46.82472; 9.69167
Carries	Rhaetian Railway
Crosses	Gründjitobelbach
Locale	Langwies, Switzerland
Official name	Gründjitobel-Viadukt
Owner	Rhaetian Railway
Maintained by	Rhaetian Railway
Characteristics
Design	Arch
Material	Reinforced concrete
Total length	145 m (476 ft)
Height	46 m (151 ft)
Longest span	86 m (282 ft)
History
Designer	Jakob Bolliger
Constructed by	Müller, Zeerleder und Gobat
Construction start	June 1913
Construction end	July 1914
Opened	December 1914
Location

The Gründjitobel Viaduct (or Gründjitobel Bridge;

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

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 145 metres (476 ft) long. The main span consists of an arch with an 85 metres (279 ft) long span, and a rise of 45 metres (148 ft) 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, which had already been used in the construction of the Halen Bridge in Kirchlindach, Bern, originated, as with the Langwieser Viaduct, from Richard Coray of Trin. The structure was built by the firm Müller, Zeerleder und Gobat.

Gallery

• 
  The Gründjitobel and the Steimannli from the east
• 
  View from the Gründjitobel towards the viaduct
• 
  View from Gründji
• 
  The viaduct with the Arosa Express

See also

• Reinforced concrete
• Arch bridge
• Viaduct
• Langwies (Rhaetian Railway station)
• Peist (Rhaetian Railway station)
• Langwieser Viaduct
• Chur–Arosa railway
• Rhaetian Railway

References

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

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gründjitobel Viaduct.

• "Gründjitobelbrücke". brueckenweb.de (in German).
• Gründjitobel Viaduct at Structurae