Telgárt – bridge and tunnel of Kornel Stodola

Telgárt: Railway Bridge Červená Skala-Margecany

The railway bridge near Telgárt in central Slovakia was the first rugged arched structure made of reinforced concrete within the Czechoslovak Railways. The Cornel Stodola tunnel is not far from the bridge and is the only spiral tunnel in Slovakia. Both buildings are part of the Červená Skala-Margecany railway line.

Interesting facts

An interesting feature of this track is that ascending 12 kilometers overcomes a height difference of 172 m in difficult terrain. The railroad starts with the original loop-shaped tunnel design near Telgárt, continues through the attractive looking viaduct through another 2 tunnels and then reaches the highest point in the second tunnel called Besnícky – 957 meters above sea level. It is the highest point of our normal railway crossing.

Tunnel of Kornel Stodola

The Kornela Stodolu tunnel is 1239.6 m long and is built as a bow with a diameter of 400 m. It starts next to the stop Telgárt, and turns 360 ° in the form of a helix, rises and ends above the village only 16 m higher. Then the viaduct continues another 22 meters higher and beyond it again rises another 31 meters. Its subsequent orbit has a spiral shape, and that’s why it is called the Telgart spiral. The original track length was 107 km, but the loop will shorten it by approximately 93 km.

Viaduct

The viaduct from Telgárt was built in 1931 on a 17 ‰ slope. The bridge is 22 meters high and 86.2 meters long and 3,570 m3 of masonry was used in its construction.