Main (river)

The Main is the longest tributary of the Rhine, one of the major European rivers. It rises as the White Main in the Fichtel Mountains of northeastern Bavaria and flows west through central Germany for to meet the Rhine below Rüsselsheim, Hesse. The cities of Mainz and Wiesbaden are close to the confluence.
The largest cities on the Main are Frankfurt am Main, Offenbach am Main and Würzburg. It is the longest river lying entirely in Germany.

Geography

The Main flows through the north and north-west of the state of Bavaria and then across southern Hesse; against the latter it demarcates a third state, Baden-Württemberg, east and west of Wertheim am Main, the northernmost town of that state.
The upper end of its basin opposes that of the Danube where the watershed is recognised by natural biologists, sea salinity studies as the European Watershed.
The Main begins near Kulmbach in Franconia at the joining of its two headstreams, the Red Main and the White Main. The Red Main originates in the Franconian Jura mountain range, in length, and runs through Creussen and Bayreuth. The White Main originates in the Fichtel Mountains; it is long. In its upper and middle section, the Main runs through the valleys of the German Highlands. Its lower section crosses the Lower Main Lowlands to Wiesbaden, where it discharges into the Rhine. Major tributaries of the Main are the Regnitz, the Franconian Saale, the Tauber, and the Nidda.
The name Main originates from Latin Moenis, Moenus or Menus. It is not related to the name of the city Mainz.

Navigation

The Main is navigable for shipping from its mouth at the Rhine close to Mainz for to Bamberg. Since 1992, the Main has been connected to the Danube via the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal and the highly regulated Altmühl river. The Main has been canalized with 34 large locks to allow CEMT class V vessels to navigate the total length of the river. The 16 locks in the adjacent Rhine-Main-Danube Canal and the Danube itself are of the same dimensions.

Weirs and locks

There are 34 weirs and locks along the 380 km navigable portion of the Main, from the confluence with the Regnitz near Bamberg, to the Rhine.

No.: Number of the lock.
Name: Name of the lock.
Location: City or town where the lock is located.
Year built: Year when the lock was put into operation.
Main-km: Location on the Main, measured from the 0 km stone in Mainz-Kostheim. The reference point is the center of the lock or lock group.
Distance between locks: length in km of impoundment.
Altitude: Height in meters above mean sea level of the upper water at normal levels.
Height: Height of the dam in meters.
Lock length: Usable length of the lock chamber in meters.
Lock width: Usable width of the lock chamber in meters.

No.	Name	Location	Year built	Main-km	Distance between locks	Altitude	Height	Lock length	Lock width
1	Viereth	Viereth-Trunstadt	1925	380.699		230.86	6.00	289.80	12.00
2	Limbach	Eltmann	1951	367.176		224.86	5.36	299.10	12.00
3	Knetzgau	Knetzgau	1958	359.781		219.50	4.24	298.85	12.00
4	Ottendorf	Gädheim	1962	345.263		215.26	7.59	301.60	12.00
5	Schweinfurt	Schweinfurt	1963	332.037		207.67	4.67	300.60	12.00
6	Garstadt	Bergrheinfeld	1956	323.503		203.00	4.69	299.75	12.00
7	Wipfeld	Wipfeld	1950	316.289		198.31	4.31	300.15	12.00
8	Gerlachshausen mit Volkach	Volkach	1957	300.506		194.00	6.30	300.00	12.00
9	Dettelbach	Dettelbach	1959	295.398		187.70	5.50	299.35	12.00
10	Kitzingen	Kitzingen	1956	283.979		182.20	3.66	299.80	12.00
11	Marktbreit	Marktbreit	1955	275.681		178.54	3.31	296.40	12.00
12	Goßmannsdorf	Ochsenfurt	1952	269.028		175.23	3.40	296.90	12.00
13	Randersacker	Würzburg	1950	258.885		171.83	3.30	299.60	12.00
14	Würzburg	Würzburg	1954	252.512		168.53	2.75	293.10	12.00
15	Erlabrunn	Erlabrunn	1935	241.204		165.78	4.15	299.20	12.00
16	Himmelstadt	Himmelstadt	1939	232.290		161.63	4.30	299.50	12.00
17	Harrbach	Karlstadt	1939	219.466		157.33	4.90	299.45	12.00
18	Steinbach	Lohr am Main	1939	200.673		152.43	5.14	299.10	12.00
19	Rothenfels	Rothenfels	1937	185.887		147.29	5.26	298.45	12.00
20	Lengfurt	Triefenstein	1937	174.508		142.03	3.99	300.08	11.98
21	Eichel	Wertheim	1937	160.467		138.04	4.50	299.92	12.00
22	Faulbach	Wertheim	1935	147.065		133.54	4.51	299.80	12.10
23	Freudenberg	Collenberg	1934	133.948		129.03	4.51	300.00	12.00
24	Heubach	Großheubach	1932	122.360		124.52	4.00	300.00	12.00
25	Klingenberg	Klingenberg am Main	1930	113.050		120.52	4.00	300.71	12.05
26	Wallstadt	Kleinwallstadt	1930	101.203		116.52	4.00	299.93	12.00
27	Obernau	Niedernberg	1930	92.909		112.52	4.01	299.18	12.00
28	Kleinostheim	Kleinostheim	1920 1972	77.905		108.51	6.80	298.36 298.22	12.04 12.02
29	Krotzenburg	Hainburg	1920 1983	63.850		101.71	2.74	302.30 300.01	12.00 12.00
30	Mühlheim	Maintal	1920 1980	53.185		98.97	3.77	299.90	12.04
31	Offenbach	Frankfurt am Main	1901 1957	38.514		95.20	3.18	344.03 230.07	12.09 13.05
32	Griesheim	Frankfurt am Main	1934	28.687		92.02	4.49	344.05 344.38	12.00 15.00
33	Eddersheim	Hattersheim am Main	1934	15.551		87.53	3.61	345.46 344.26	12.05 15.05
34	Kostheim	Hochheim am Main	1886 1934	3.209		83.92	2.36	341.90 339.02	15.00 Door: 12.00 Chamber: 20.00

Hydroelectric power generation

Most of the weirs or dams along the Main also have turbines for power generation.

No.: Number of the dam/weir.
Name: Name of the dam/weir.
Height: Height of the dam/weir in meters.
Power: Maximum power generation capacity in megawatts.
Turbines: Type and number of turbines.
Operator: Operator of the hydroelectric plant.

No.	Name	Height	Power	Turbines	Operator
1	Viereth	6.00	6.20	Francis, Kaplan	E.ON Wasserkraft
2	Limbach	5.36	3.70	Kaplan	E.ON Wasserkraft
3	Knetzgau	4.24	2.90	Kaplan	E.ON Wasserkraft
4	Ottendorf	7.59	6.30	Kaplan	E.ON Wasserkraft
5	Schweinfurt	4.67	3.80	Kaplan	E.ON Wasserkraft
6	Garstadt	4.69	3.90	Kaplan	E.ON Wasserkraft
7	Wipfeld	4.31	2.90	Kaplan	E.ON Wasserkraft
8	Gerlachshausen mit Volkach	6.30	3.90	Kaplan	E.ON Wasserkraft
9	Dettelbach	5.50	4.20	Kaplan	E.ON Wasserkraft
10	Kitzingen	3.66	3.00	Kaplan	E.ON Wasserkraft
11	Marktbreit	3.31	2.10	Kaplan	E.ON Wasserkraft
12	Goßmannsdorf	3.40	2.00	Kaplan	E.ON Wasserkraft
13	Randersacker	3.30	2.00	Kaplan	E.ON Wasserkraft
14	Würzburg	2.75	0.90	Kaplan	E.ON Wasserkraft
15	Erlabrunn	4.15	2.70	Kaplan	E.ON Wasserkraft
16	Himmelstadt	4.30	2.50	Kaplan	E.ON Wasserkraft
17	Harrbach	4.90	3.00	Kaplan	E.ON Wasserkraft
18	Steinbach	5.14	4.20	Kaplan	E.ON Wasserkraft
19	Rothenfels	5.26	4.20	Kaplan	E.ON Wasserkraft
20	Lengfurt	3.99	2.60		E.ON Wasserkraft
21	Eichel	4.50	3.10		E.ON Wasserkraft
22	Faulbach	4.51	4.10		E.ON Wasserkraft
23	Freudenberg	4.51	4.30		E.ON Wasserkraft
24	Heubach	4.00	3.40		E.ON Wasserkraft
25	Klingenberg	4.00	3.00		E.ON Wasserkraft
26	Wallstadt	4.00	3.40		E.ON Wasserkraft
27	Obernau	4.01	3.20		E.ON Wasserkraft
28	Kleinostheim	6.80	9.70		E.ON Wasserkraft
29	Krotzenburg	2.74
30	Mühlheim	3.77	4.80		E.ON Wasserkraft
31	Offenbach	3.18	4.10		E.ON Wasserkraft
32	Griesheim	4.49	4.90	Kaplan	Wasser- und Schifffahrtsamt Aschaffenburg
33	Eddersheim	3.61	3.84	Kaplan	Wasser- und Schifffahrtsamt Aschaffenburg
34	Kostheim	2.36	4.9	Kaplan Pit-Rohrturbinen	WKW Staustufe Kostheim/Main GmbH & Co. KG