![Saxonia Museum fuer saechsische Vaterlandskunde V 55 Der Eisenbahntunnel bei Oberau](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Saxonia_Museum_fuer_saechsische_Vaterlandskunde_V_55_Der_Eisenbahntunnel_bei_Oberau.jpg)
The Oberau Tunnel (''Oberauer Tunnel'') was the second railway tunnel in Germany after a railway tunnel on the
Tollwitz–Dürrenberg Railway (''Tollwitz-Dürrenberger Eisenbahn'', a
585 mm gauge mining railway), but it was the first tunnel of a normal railway on the continent of Europe. It was driven between 1837 and 1839 on the
Leipzig–Dresden railway
The Leipzig–Dresden line is a German railway line. It was built by the Leipzig–Dresden Railway Company between 1837 and 1839. It was the first long-distance railway and the first railway using only steam traction in Germany. It also included ...
by
Freiberg
Freiberg is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany. It is a so-called ''Große Kreisstadt'' (large county town) and the administrative centre of Mittelsachsen district.
Its historic town centre has been placed under heritage c ...
miners and opened out in 1933/1934. Today only an obelisk commemorates this milestone in
German railway history.
History
Although the Leipzig–Dresden railway ran over the fairly flat terrain of northern
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
, the northern slopes of the
Dresden Basin
The Dresden BasinDickinson (1964). pp. 624-625. (german: (Dresdner) Elbtalkessel or ''Dresdner Elbtalweitung'') is a roughly 45 km long and 10 km wide area of the Elbe Valley between the towns of Pirna and Meißen.Elkins (1972), pp. 293- ...
meant that a tunnel was required because at that time it was believed that trains on major railways could not climb significant slopes. Similarly, the
Berlin-Dresden railway, which was built half a century later, partly running parallel with it, has its steepest gradients in this area.
More than 500 miners sunk four 20 m-deep shafts to the level of the tunnel floor. The tunnel was driven from the bottom of these shafts and from the tunnel portals. Two of the shafts were later used for the ventilation of the tunnel.
The tunnel was completely lined with 8,900 m³ of
Elbe Sandstone to reduce the water inflow.
With the opening of the Leipzig–Dresden railway on 7 April 1839, Oberau station, which was situated high above the cutting leading to the tunnel, was the closest station to
Meissen
Meissen (in German orthography: ''Meißen'', ) is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrecht ...
. Because of this unfavourable situation, Meissen sought a more convenient station and in 1842
Niederau station
Niederau station is a regional station on the Leipzig–Dresden railway in Niederau in the German state of Saxony. The railway station, which was opened on 15 May 1842, for a long time had the oldest operating station building in Germany, bu ...
was opened on the line about 2.5 kilometres south of the tunnel. With the opening of Niederau station, the
Leipzig–Dresden Railway Company
The Leipzig–Dresden Railway Company (german: Leipzig-Dresdner Eisenbahn-Compagnie or LDE) was a private railway company in the Kingdom of Saxony, now a part of Germany. Amongst other things, it operated the route between Leipzig and Dresden, ope ...
closed Oberau station on 15 May 1842.
From 1933 to 1934, Oberau Tunnel was converted into a cutting because of its restricted
structure gauge
A structure gauge, also called the minimum clearance outline, is a diagram or physical structure that sets limits to the extent that bridges, tunnels and other infrastructure can encroach on rail vehicles. It specifies the height and width of pl ...
and the severe damage caused by water and frost during its operation. In the area of the former tunnel, state road 177 between
Radeburg
Radeburg is a town in the district of Meißen, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated 19 km east of Meißen, and 18 km north of Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital c ...
and Meissen now crosses the line on a bridge.
A monument to the tunnel was built out of the original material of the portal crown; it reused the Saxon coat of arms, which was once at the centre of the portal. The Dresden coat of arms was placed on the left and is now located on a memorial stone next to the road bridge.
Overview data
* length: 513.3 metres
* built: 1837–1839
* opened out: 1933/1934
* located at km: 93.2
* maximum coverage: 15 m
* type of rock tunneled through:
shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...
(''Schiefer''),
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oberau Tunnel
Railway tunnels in Germany
Buildings and structures in Meissen (district)
Niederau