Müngsten Bridge


The Müngsten Bridge is the highest railway bridge in Germany. The bridge is high and spans the valley of the river Wupper, carrying the Wuppertal-Oberbarmen–Solingen railway between the cities of Remscheid and Solingen. It is used by line S7 of the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn and the RE47 Regional-Express service, although the RE47 service is being operated by a replacement bus service until 2026.
Originally the bridge was named the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Brücke to honour Emperor Wilhelm I. After the end of the monarchy the bridge was renamed after the nearby settlement of Müngsten, which is close to the city limits of Solingen, Remscheid and Wuppertal. Today, the settlement no longer exists, so Müngsten is simply a landmark.

History

The first plans for a bridge connecting the cities of Remscheid and Solingen go back as far as 1889. The Prussian Parliament approved the 5 million Marks required to build the bridge in 1890. Preparatory work began in 1893, first breaking of the earth was on 26 February 1894, and the bridge was finished in 1897. Anton von Rieppel, an architect and engineer, was in charge of the project. A memorial plaque at the foot of the bridge reminds one of his efforts. The opening of the bridge shrank the distance by rail between the cities of Remscheid and Solingen from to.
The bridge's official inauguration celebration took place on 15 July 1897. Emperor Wilhelm II did not attend the ceremony in person. Prince Friedrich Leopold of Prussia attended the festivities instead. Emperor Wilhelm II visited the bridge two years later, on 12 August 1899.

Design

The overall length of the structure is. The main arch has a span of with trestle bridge sections either side of it supported by wide columns with a maximum height of.
A total of of dynamite and of black powder were needed during construction of the foundations, and around of of iron and steel were used in the bridge's construction, with 950,000 rivets holding the structure together.
Originally, the bridge was planned to be single-track. However, high future traffic growth projections led to the redesign as a dual-track bridge.