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Münchenstein Rail Disaster
The Münchenstein rail disaster on 14 June 1891 was historically the worst railway accident ever to affect Switzerland. A crowded passenger train fell through a girder bridge, killing more than seventy people and injuring many others. The accident occurred on the railway line between Basel and Delémont, near the Bruckgut just below the village centre of Münchenstein, as the train was traversing the bridge across the river Birs. Bridge The single-track bridge had been built in 1874–75 by Gustave Eiffel (1832–1923), who went on to build the Eiffel Tower in 1889. The contract was given to Eiffel & Cie by the Jurabahn (later Jura–Simplon Railway), a private railway company. Eiffel's engineering company had already acquired the necessary experience, having previously planned and built numerous railway bridges and viaducts in France such as those at Rouzat and Bouble in the Massif Central. The bridge was composed of wrought iron lattice girders, with an overall length of 42 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birs 1891 C
The Birs (French: ''Birse'') is a long river in Switzerland that flows through the Jura region and ends as a tributary to the Rhine between Basel and Birsfelden. It is the most important river of the Swiss Jura. Course The Birs has its source in a spring near the ''Col de Pierre Pertuis'' at above sea level a little southwest of Tavannes in the ''Jura bernois''. It starts as a proper river; the large amount of water is the product of an extended underground river system. The Birs runs through wider valleys (Vallée de Tavannes) and narrow gorges. Near Delémont, the capital of the canton of Jura, it joins the Sorne and the Scheulte. Between Soyhières and Liesberg, it leaves the French-speaking part of Switzerland, enters the canton of Basel-Landschaft and receives the Lützel from the left. In Laufen it forms a waterfall, which was the source of power and of the name of the city. At the gorge of Angenstein, the river runs into the ''Birseck'', the lowland by Aesch. Bet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abutment
An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end which provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls to resist lateral movement of the earthen fill of the bridge approach. Multi-span bridges require piers to support ends of spans unsupported by abutments. Dam abutments are generally the sides of a valley or gorge, but may be artificial in order to support arch dams such as Kurobe Dam in Japan. The civil engineering term may also refer to the structure supporting one side of an arch, or masonry used to resist the lateral forces of a vault.Pevsner, N. (1970) ''Cornwall''; 2nd ed. Harmondsworth: Penguin; p. 245 The impost or abacus of a column in classical architecture may also serve as an abutment to an arch. The word derives from the verb "abut", meaning to "touch by means of a mutual border". Use in engineering An abutment may be us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Railway Accidents And Incidents In Switzerland
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prepared flat surface, rail vehicles (rolling stock) are directionally guided by the tracks on which they run. Tracks usually consist of steel rails, installed on sleepers (ties) set in ballast, on which the rolling stock, usually fitted with metal wheels, moves. Other variations are also possible, such as "slab track", in which the rails are fastened to a concrete foundation resting on a prepared subsurface. Rolling stock in a rail transport system generally encounters lower frictional resistance than rubber-tyred road vehicles, so passenger and freight cars (carriages and wagons) can be coupled into longer trains. The operation is carried out by a railway company, providing transport between train stations or freight customer faciliti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lists Of Rail Accidents
This is the list of rail accident lists. Lists By year By type *By country * By death toll *Terrorist incidents See also * Classification of railway accidents * Derailment *Rail Transport * Train wreck A train wreck, train collision, train accident or train crash is a type of disaster involving one or more trains. Train wrecks often occur as a result of miscommunication, as when a moving train meets another train on the same track; or an acci ... * Tram accident * Train-pedestrian fatalities {{DEFAULTSORT:Rail accidents ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Bridge Failures
This is a list of bridge failures. Before 1800 1800–1899 1900–1949 1950–1999 2000–present Bridge disasters in fiction *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005 novel): the fictional Brockdale Bridge, by the Death Eaters (replaced by the real-world Millennium Bridge, London in the 2009 film) * Final Destination 5 (2011 film) * The Bridge over the River Kwai (1952 novel) and its 1957 film adaptation The Bridge on the River Kwai *The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927 novel) *Ring of Fire (1961 film) *The Cassandra Crossing (1976 film) *The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966 film): bridge intentionally destroyed by Blondie and Tuco *The General (1926 film) * Train Man (1999 novel): featuring destruction of rail bridges over the Mississippi River * X-Men: The Last Stand (2006 film): The Golden Gate Bridge is rerouted by mutants to create a path to Alcatraz Island * Monsters vs. Aliens (2009 film): The Golden Gate Bridge is destroyed by a giant robot but Ginormic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buckling
In structural engineering, buckling is the sudden change in shape (deformation) of a structural component under load, such as the bowing of a column under compression or the wrinkling of a plate under shear. If a structure is subjected to a gradually increasing load, when the load reaches a critical level, a member may suddenly change shape and the structure and component is said to have ''buckled''. Euler's critical load and Johnson's parabolic formula are used to determine the buckling stress in slender columns. Buckling may occur even though the stresses that develop in the structure are well below those needed to cause failure in the material of which the structure is composed. Further loading may cause significant and somewhat unpredictable deformations, possibly leading to complete loss of the member's load-carrying capacity. However, if the deformations that occur after buckling do not cause the complete collapse of that member, the member will continue to support the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buckling
In structural engineering, buckling is the sudden change in shape (deformation) of a structural component under load, such as the bowing of a column under compression or the wrinkling of a plate under shear. If a structure is subjected to a gradually increasing load, when the load reaches a critical level, a member may suddenly change shape and the structure and component is said to have ''buckled''. Euler's critical load and Johnson's parabolic formula are used to determine the buckling stress in slender columns. Buckling may occur even though the stresses that develop in the structure are well below those needed to cause failure in the material of which the structure is composed. Further loading may cause significant and somewhat unpredictable deformations, possibly leading to complete loss of the member's load-carrying capacity. However, if the deformations that occur after buckling do not cause the complete collapse of that member, the member will continue to support the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ludwig Von Tetmajer
Ludwig von Tetmajer (14 July 1850, Krompachy, Upper Hungary - 1 February 1905, Vienna, Austria) was a professor at the Eidgenössischen Polytechnikum, the fore-runner of modern ETH in Zurich. Tetmajer was a pioneer in the development of the research laboratories for determining the physical and mechanical properties of the construction materials and a co-founder of the Festigkeitsprüfungsanstalt, the modern Eidgenossische Materialprüfungs- und Forschungsanstalt (Empa) of Switzerland. Life Ludwig Tetmajer was born as the second child of Władysław Tetmajer, director of the iron-works in Krompachy (Upper Hungary) and Luise Elsner. They belonged to the Austro-Swiss branch of the Tetmajer family. His cousins, novelist Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer and painter Włodzimierz Tetmajer, belonged to the Polish branch of the family. He spent his childhood in the vicinity of the iron-works what decisively influenced his life. In 1867 he finished his secondary education ''cum laude'' and after ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Empa
The Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa, German acronym for ''Eidgenössische Materialprüfungs- und Forschungsanstalt'') is an interdisciplinary Swiss research institute for applied materials sciences and technology. As part of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Domain, it is an institution of the Swiss federation. For most of the period since its foundation in 1880, it concentrated on classical materials testing. Since the late 1980s it has developed into a modern research and development institute. Research According to its vision – Materials and technologies for a sustainable future – Empa aims at developing solutions for current problems facing industry and society in areas such as energy, the environment, mobility, health and safety. Research is concentrated in five Research Focus Areas: "Nanostructured Materials," "Sustainable Built Environment," "Health and Performance," "Natural Resources and Pollutants," and "Energy". Em ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Railway Air Brake
A railway air brake is a railway brake power braking system with compressed air as the operating medium. Modern trains rely upon a fail-safe air brake system that is based upon a design patented by George Westinghouse on April 13, 1869. The Westinghouse Air Brake Company was subsequently organized to manufacture and sell Westinghouse's invention. In various forms, it has been nearly universally adopted. The Westinghouse system uses air pressure to charge air reservoirs (tanks) on each car. Full air pressure causes each car to release the brakes. A subsequent reduction or loss of air pressure causes each car to apply its brakes, using the compressed air stored in its reservoirs. Overview Straight air brake In the air brake's simplest form, called the ''straight air system'', compressed air pushes on a piston in a cylinder. The piston is connected through mechanical linkage to brake shoes that can rub on the train wheels, using the resulting friction to slow the train. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Railway Post Office
In Canada and the United States, a railway post office, commonly abbreviated as RPO, was a railroad car that was normally operated in passenger service as a means to sort mail en route, in order to speed delivery. The RPO was staffed by highly trained Railway Mail Service postal clerks, and was off-limits to the passengers on the train. In the UK and Ireland, the equivalent term was travelling post office (TPO). From the middle of the 19th century, many American railroads earned substantial revenues through contracts with the U.S. Post Office Department (USPOD) to carry mail aboard high-speed passenger trains; and the Railway Mail Service enforced various standardized designs on RPOs. In fact, a number of companies maintained passenger routes where the financial losses from moving people were more than offset by transporting the mail. History The world's first official carriage of mail by rail was by the United Kingdom's General Post Office in November 1830, using adapted rail ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Passenger Car (rail)
A passenger railroad car or passenger car (United States), also called a passenger carriage, passenger coach (United Kingdom and International Union of Railways), or passenger bogie (India) is a railroad car that is designed to carry passengers. The term ''passenger car'' can also be associated with a sleeping car, a baggage car, a dining car, railway post office and prisoner transport cars. The first passenger cars were built in the early 1800s with the advent of the first railroads, and were small and little more than converted freight cars. Early passenger cars were constructed from wood; in the 1900s construction shifted to steel and later aluminum for improved strength. Passenger cars have increased greatly in size from their earliest versions, with modern bi-level passenger cars capable of carrying over 100 passengers. Amenities for passengers have also improved over time, with developments such as lighting, heating, and air conditioning added for improved passenger ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
