Semmering railway
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How it came to be
The Semmering railway runs 41 km through the mountains from Gloggnitz, at 436 metres, over a pass at 895 metres to Mürzzuschlag, at 677 metres. In 1844 the engineer Carl von Ghega proposed a route over the pass that needed no extra rack rail. Ghega had been born in Venice in 1802.
Construction began in 1848, and about 20,000 workers under Ghega's direction finished it in 1854. The line has 14 tunnels, the longest being the 1,431-metre summit tunnel, 16 major viaducts, more than 100 stone arch bridges and 11 iron bridges, and 57 two-storey houses for line attendants about 700 metres apart. Gradients of 2.0 to 2.5 percent cover 60 percent of the route.
To choose locomotives for the climb, four engines entered a trial in 1851; all met its conditions, but none proved reliable in service. The line has been in use since 1854 and was inscribed in 1998. Beneath the mountains, the 27.3 km Semmering Base Tunnel was begun in 2012 and is expected to open in 2030.
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