page_title: Grandfey Viaduct
section_title: First viaduct
hierarchical_section_title: Grandfey Viaduct / History / First viaduct
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Alter Grandfey-Viadukt über die Saane von 1862.
context_page_description: The Grandfey-Viaduct is on the railway line from Bern to Fribourg and is one of the largest bridges in Switzerland.
context_section_description: In 1856, the Lausanne–Fribourg–Bern Railway Company commissioned engineer Leopold Blotnitzki to carry out studies for this most complex construction project in its route network. The design was developed by a commission of four, consisting of Durbach, Karl Etzel, François Jacqmin and Wilhelm Nördlinger, as the engineer (who was then active in France under the name Nordling) was called in Stuttgart. This planning took into account the recently built Crumlin Viaduct in South Wales and the Sitter Viaduct near St. Gallen. Planning for the construction process was carried out by Ferdinand Mathieu, senior engineer of the French iron and steel company Schneider et Cie in Le Creusot, which had received the metalworking contract for the bridge. The earthwork and masonry work was carried out by the Swiss company Wirth, Studer & Co.
  The 343 m long and 82 m high double-track bridge built from 1857 to 1862 consisted of six vertical lattice trusses supported by large stone pillars, carrying a strong lattice girder supporting the superstructure of the rail tracks. The five central spans were each 48.75 m long and the side spans were 43.30 m long. Inside the truss there was a lane for pedestrians and small carts. Thus the Grandfey Viaduct created a new route for light land transport over the long and impassable gorge of the Saane.
  The masonry stone bases were up to 32 m high so that their heads were all at the same level. The flow dividers of pillars IV and V standing in the river were protected by limestone cladding against the current.
  The pillars consisted of 3.93 m long cast iron pipes, which were arranged on 11 levels stacked together 43.20 m high and connected by lattice-shaped wrought iron trusses and stiffened.
  The track base consisted of four wrought-iron lattice girders spaced 2.09 m apart, measured from their centres. The passage for the pedestrians was located between the two middle girders.
  The Grandfey Viaduct is considered the first bridge where Ferdinand Mathieu, senior engineer of Schneider & Cie., used the incremental launch method that he invented. In this case, the lattice girder beam that was pushed over the valley served as a crane for the construction of the first and subsequently the next pillar.
  1300 tons of cast iron and 700 tons of wrought iron were used for the pillars and 1250 tons of wrought iron were used for the beams.
  The Grandfey viaduct influenced the Busseau Viaduct in France, which was designed shortly afterwards by Nördling. It also served as a model for the Malleco Viaduct in Chile, which was also built by Schneider & Cie. from 1886 to 1890.
  Because of heavier trains, the bridge was rebuilt in 1892 with a single track, which was positioned in the middle of the deck and the speed was limited to 40 km/h.
caption: Grandfey Viaduct of 1862
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS4 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2011:09:27 13:38:26", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7692", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1786", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1320"}