Rhone–Rhine Canal

Dole, the marina

The Rhine - Rhône Canal ( official name: Canal du Rhone au Rhin ) is a French Ship Canal, which runs in the regions of Burgundy, Franche -Comté and Alsace.

Geography

The canal connects the valleys of the rivers Saône and Rhine on the watershed of the Burgundian gate and is part of an inland waterway leading through Europe manufactures across a navigable link between the coasts of the Mediterranean and the North Sea. This route consists of the following waterways:

  • Rhône ( as channeled flow )
  • Saône (as channeled flow )
  • Rhine - Rhône Canal
  • Side of the river channel
  • Rhine (as channeled flow )

Course

The canal begins in Saint- Symphorien- sur -Saône, where he branches off about four kilometers upstream of the confluence of the Canal de Bourgogne from the Saône River at an altitude of 175 meters. From there, the channel to the Doubs, which he reached just south of Dole runs. From here to the town of L' Isle- sur -le- Doubs, he uses the channeled river Doubs, then rises as an artificial channel to the summit level to a height of 345 meters and crossed at Montreux- Vieux, the watershed between the river systems of the Rhône and the Rhine. From Mulhouse to Niffer the channel in the former Kembs - Niffer branch duct runs. In Niffer the channel opens for a total length of 237 kilometers into the Rhine, strictly speaking, in the Rhine Channel ( Grand Canal d' Alsace).

Coordinates

  • Source of the canal: 47 ° 6 ' 28 " N, 5 ° 18' 49 " O47.1077777777785.3136111111111Koordinaten: 47 ° 6 ' 28 " N, 5 ° 18' 49 " O
  • Endpoint of the channel: 47 ° 42 ' 13 " N, 7 ° 30' 26" O47.7036111111117.5072222222222

By Crossed departments

Southern section

  • Côte- d'Or
  • Law
  • Doubs
  • Territoire de Belfort
  • Haut-Rhin

Northern section

  • Bas- Rhin

Places on the canal

Southern section

  • Saint- Symphorien- sur -Saône
  • Dole
  • Besançon
  • L' Isle- sur -le- Doubs
  • Montbéliard
  • Dannemarie
  • Mulhouse
  • Niffer

Northern Section:

  • Rheinau

Technical Infrastructure

It is a channel of the type watersheds channel overcomes a difference in altitude of around 280 meters, which are 170 meters on the side of the Saône valley, which are overcome by 72 locks and 110 meters on the side of the Rhine, the 40 locks need. The locks have been rebuilt several times and have different dimensions. Consistently the track is passable but only for ships of the Freycinet class. Only the section between Mulhouse and the mouth of the Rhine side channel was 1,350 t for large European vessels expanded.

The Rhine - Rhône Canal crosses two Channel Tunnel: a case Thoraise ( length 185 m), about 10 km west of Besancon, and is below the citadel of Besançon (length 394 m). Both tunnels are each cut from one flow loop of the Doubs, six meters wide and only allow one -way traffic.

At Km 172, a branch canal to Belfort branches with nine locks and a length of 13.5 kilometers. This channel is the remaining relic of the never completed Canal de la Haute -Saône, which was originally supposed to connect the Rhine - Rhône Canal with the upper Saône.

History

With the construction of the canal was begun in 1784, but he could be put into service until 1833. The politician Jean -Georges Humann has gained some achievements in the construction of the canal.

The Rhine - Rhône Canal was originally from Mulhouse more about Colmar to Strasbourg, this route has been replaced by the side of the river channel and abandoned for navigation. Only two sections of the old canal are still in operation, but have no connection with the present-day Rhine - Rhône Canal:

  • The branch channel to Colmar (also: Canal de Colmar ), length: 23 km, which branches off from the Rhine side channel opposite Breisach.
  • The old northern section of the channel ( length 35 km ), which branches off at Rheinau from the Rhine side channel and the port of Strasbourg flows into the Canal de la Marne au Rhin.

Economic Importance

The present importance of the channel for commercial shipping is low. Like many other older channels that only have Freycinet dimensions, the use is little more economical due to the low loading capacity. To make matters here mean that particularly appropriate to limit the depth and the maximum headroom is severely limited under the bridges in the section of channelized Doubs. On the increase, however, is the use of sports and houseboats, which has established itself due to the natural beauty, especially in the region of Franche -Comté.

Attractions

  • The scenic countryside in the valley of the Doubs River with its many loops
  • Dole: Old Town, birthplace of Louis Pasteur Museum
  • Besançon Citadel, Old Town
  • Montbeliard: Peugeot Automobile Museum
  • Niffer: Here was erected in 1959 by the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, with a tower for the lock traffic, which consists of two diagonally opposite each other on cubes with glass platform, and a customs house with a roof in the form of a Hyparschale.
  • Strasbourg:
Dole, Jura Doubs (river) France Canal de Huningue Baume-les-Dames Rhinau Marne–Rhine Canal Pleasure craft Structurae High Rhine Aar Lake Geneva
161668
de