The Arlberg Railway Tunnel (german: Arlbergtunnel) forms the central part of the

Arlberg railway The Arlberg Railway (german: Arlbergbahn), which connects the Austrian cities Innsbruck and Bludenz, is Austria's only ''east-west'' mountain railway. It is one of the highest standard gauge railways in Europe and the second highest in Austria, a ...

in western

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, running between the federal states

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

and

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label=Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is ...

. It traverses through the

Arlberg Arlberg () is a massif between Vorarlberg and Tyrol in Austria. The highest peak is the Valluga at . The name ''Arlberg'' derives from the tradition of the "Arlenburg", who are said to have once established themselves on the Tyrolean side of the A ...

massif at the northeastern end of the

Rhaetian Alps The Rhaetian Alps ( it, Alpi Retiche; german: Rätische Alpen) are a mountain range of the Eastern Alps. The SOIUSA classification system divides them into the Western and Eastern Rhaetian Alps, while the Alpine Club classification of the Eastern ...

. First opened to traffic in 1884, it was a major engineering achievement of the nation, being the longest railway tunnel in Austria for over 100 years, possessing a length of . Originally operated by

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s, the Arlberg Railway Tunnel was reengineered during the 1920s for use by electric traction. During the 2010s, further modifications were implemented to introduce improved safety levels and expand the

loading gauge A loading gauge is a diagram or physical structure that defines the maximum height and width dimensions in railway vehicles and their loads. Their purpose is to ensure that rail vehicles can pass safely through tunnels and under bridges, and ke ...

. It is interconnected with the later-built

Arlberg Road Tunnel The Arlberg Road Tunnel (german: Arlberg Straßentunnel), with a length of , is Austria's longest road tunnel. When it was inaugurated, it was the longest road tunnel in the world. It carries the S16 Arlberg Schnellstraße (German for "Arlberg Hi ...

History

The origins of the Arlberg Railway Tunnel is closely associated with the Arlberg railway, of which construction commenced immediately after receiving authorisation to proceed on 16 May 1880. Built at a total cost of 35.5 million gulden, the line had been approved as a single-track railway throughout much of its length; however, the Arlberg tunnel was intentionally constructed with sufficient space to accommodate a double track arrangement from the onset, engineers having anticipated the need to handle higher volumes of traffic than a single line would be able to convey. A large proportion of the Arlberg Railway Tunnel, akin to much of the line's engineered features, comprised natural stone masonry in its construction, using materials such as

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures an ...

, and

mica schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes o ...

. The Arlberg Railway Tunnel was a major engineering feature of the line; possessing a length of 10,648 meters, it was the longest railway tunnel in Austria, and would remain so for over one hundred years. On 21 December 1884, it was opened as a single-track tunnel, and rapidly became saturated by heavy traffic. Accordingly, the second parallel track was installed and operational by 15 July 1885. The tunnel starts at near the railway station serving St. Anton am Arlberg and ends in

Langen am Arlberg Langen may refer to: Places ;Germany * Langen, Cuxhaven, in the district of Cuxhaven, Lower Saxony * Langen, Emsland, part of the ''Samtgemeinde'' Lengerich, in the Emsland district, Lower Saxony * , a village in the municipality of Fehrbellin, ...

. Early on, operations became troubled by the tunnel's lack of ventilation; the combination of

s and inadequate air flow led to dangerous sulphuric acid vapour accumulating along the roof, which compelled locomotive crews to lie on the floor seeking fresher air to breath. While protective equipment was issued to the crews, the problem was not truly eliminated until the introduction of electric traction during the 1920s. During the 1970s, the interconnecting

was built alongside the earlier railway tunnel, there is a minimum distance of 150 distances between the actively-trafficked bores. For over 125 years, the tunnel has functioned as the only railway connection between the two Austrian provinces of

and

; making it a critical piece of infrastructure for the Austrian Federal Railways. Up to 90 trains per day were reportedly using the route on busy days by 2009, resulting in several million tonnes of freight traversing the tunnel during a single year. During the early twenty-first century, the Austrian Federal Railways began to reengineer elements of the Arlberg line with contemporary safety features. As such, the Arlberg Railway Tunnel was subject to a package of works costing 210 million euros during a temporary closure, this included the addition of eight new evacuation and rescue passaged between it and the adjacent Arlberg Road Tunnel; other safety-related changes included a water supply (for fire-fighting purposes), new orientation lighting, emergency telephone and radio facilities, and overhead line disconnection functionality. These alterations were tempered by a desire to keep the existing tunnel structure relatively intact, avoiding lengthy interruptions to operations; however, the safety measures introduced maintained compliance with existing guidelines and knowhow. Furthermore, the loading gauge throughout the tunnel was expanded by lowering the track bed, while a permanent road surface was also added so that emergency vehicles could more readily move inside as well; the renovated tunnel was put back into service during late 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arlbergtunnel Railway tunnels in Austria Tunnels completed in 1884 Tunnels in the Alps 1884 establishments in Austria

History

See also

References