Rothensee boat lift
Encyclopedia
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
and connects the Mittellandkanal with the Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
via the Elbeabstiegskanal.
Purpose
The Rothensee boat liftBoat lift
A boat lift, ship lift, or lift lock is a machine for transporting boats between water at two different elevations, and is an alternative to the canal lock and the canal inclined plane....
was originally envisaged as part of a larger project. The lift is at the Eastern end of the Mittellandkanal, it was intended that this canal would cross the Elbe on an aqueduct and then be connected to the Elbe-Havel Canal
Elbe-Havel Canal
The Elbe–Havel Canal is a 56-kilometre-long waterway in Germany. It links Magdeburg, on the River Elbe, with Brandenburg on the River Havel.Since 2003, the Elbe-Havel Canal has been connected to the Mittelland Canal by the unique Magdeburg Water Bridge, which crosses above the River Elbe. The...
by a double boat lift at Hohenwarthe
Hohenwarthe
Hohenwarthe is a village and a former municipality in the Jerichower Land district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the municipality Möser....
. The Rothensee lift is about 500m from the junction of the Elbeabstiegcanal and the MittellandKanal lowering boats to the level of the Elbe. The Rothensee lift was completed in 1938 but as a result of the Second World War the aqueduct and Hohenwarthe lift were not constructed. As part of a German re-unification transport project the Elbe aqueduct
Magdeburg Water Bridge
The Magdeburg Water Bridge is a navigable aqueduct in Germany, opened in October 2003. It connects the Elbe-Havel Canal to the Mittellandkanal, crossing over the Elbe River...
was completed after a 60 year delay, however two shaft locks were built instead of the proposed Hohenwarthe lift. For 60 years, therefore, the Rothensee lift, which was originally intended to allow passage just from the Mittellandkanal to the Elbe carried all the navigation traffic from the West German industrial centres to West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
.
In 2001 the parallel Rothensee ship lock which allows the passage of bigger ships was completed making the lift redundant.
Technology
The boat lift overcomes a normal water level difference of 16 metres, however, changing water levels on the Elbe causes this to vary between 11 and 18 metres. The trough moves between levels in 3 minutes. A boat can pass through the lift in 20 minutes. Approximately 70 ships with a maximum displacement of 1,000 tonnes pass through the lift daily.
Henrichenburg boat lift
The Henrichenburg boat lift facilitates a change in elevation of the Dortmund-Ems-Kanal in Waltrop-Oberwiese. The boat lift is part of the Waltrop Lock Park , which includes the old Henrichenburg boat lift built in 1899, a disused shaft lock from 1912, the new boat lift built in 1962 and a modern...
. In this case only two float chambers were needed. The lift follows the patented plans of Rudolf Mussaeus.
The trough is 85 metres long and 12.2 metres wide and is supported on two 36 metre long 10 metre in diameter cylindrical floats submerged in two 60 metre deep float chambers. The floats are internally sub-divided into three separate chambers. Each of these chambers is filled with air compressed to a pressure appropriate to its depth in the float chamber in order to prevent implosion. The floats provide buoyant lift equivalent to 5,400 tonnes, enough to balance the weight of the trough and its load of water and ship. The trough is set in motion using four worm geared shafts, 27.3 metres long and 42 centimetres in diameter moved by eight 44 kW electric motors. Because the trough and its load are in equilibrium with the floats only the friction opposing the troughs movement needs to be overcome by the motors. A complete lift can be achieved using less than 500 kW of power.
The overall height of the lift measured from the base of the underground float chambers to the upper cross beams is 97.21 metres. The water depth in the trough is usually 2.5 metres.
History
The building of the boat lift was a major engineering achievement. To build the lift 225,000 cubic metres of earth were moved and 55,000 cubic metres of concrete were needed. In order to dig the pits for the two 60m deep float chambers the ground was frozen to a temperature of -40 degrees celsius in order to prevent a possible collapse of the excavation. It took 4 months for the temperature to be lowered by the correct amount. In the neighbourhood of the boat lift a company owned housing estate, the Schiffshebewerk Estate was built.In the first 50 years of its existence 730,000 lifts were completed. In the years 1980 and 1981 an 18 month long general overhaul was completed. It was at this time that it received its green coat of paint.
The lift today
Despite the completion of the parallel locks in 2001 the lift is still in use. The German Federal audit office, aware of the lift's current loss making status will probably bring about the lift's closure in the near future.See also
- Original German article from which this article was translated
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