Malojapass
The last hairpin turns of the Maloja Pass Road (south side)
The Maloja Pass ( Italian Passo del Maloggia, Romanesque pass because Malögia ) is a 1815 meters above sea level situated Swiss Alps Pass and connects the Bergell with the Engadine, both in the canton of Grisons. It crosses the watershed between the Danube and Po, the north-west of the passport of the European watershed little branches. The pass road is part of the main road 3 Politically part of the village of Maloja Pass to the municipality Bregaglia.
History
The transition
Even in his early past of the Maloja Pass had not abated a great significance for the traffic, it has to date. The specialty of this mountain pass is that it is very flat on its north side, but on the other hand drops down to Bergell steep and abrupt to the south. The Italian Chiavenna to Maloja path to the pass rises to 32 km at 1482 m. In the next 49 km to the northeast, to Zernez, "falls" it by only 343 m.
This peculiarity of the pass has its causes in the natural history story of the Maloja region. The Engadine Inn Valley ranged much further south-west still a hundred thousand a few years ago and the top side valleys of today's Bergell were the source valleys of the Inn. On the other, southern side of the Alps the much stronger gradient Mera eroded towards a deeper shrinking valley to Lake Como and to the Adriatic Sea. The courses of Mera, the Albigna and Orlegna whose flow field in a contact up to 180 ° to the southwest, indicate that these waters have been diverted by headward erosion of Mera. So there is no doubt that the Duana Val and Val Maroz formerly represented the upper reaches of the River Inn. The name of the pass goes back to the language of the shepherds from the neighboring Valtellina, the Maloggia called him, this means as much as alder grove. In native Romansh passport Malögia is called.
The paths
The Romans, who established a first mule track over the Maloja, who soon fell again were. Whether this mule was already passable for carts, is controversial today. But when he this was not the beginning, it is yet to accept for Late Antiquity. Throughout the Middle Ages was committed the Maloja, but insignificant. Nevertheless, it should be like come the late Middle Ages to a road construction. Presumably, this is a restoration of the old Roman road, because the Maloja was hardly more than a replacement route for the Septimer.
Only in the 16th century, the Maloja gained new importance and in 1776 a small road was built. In the years 1827-1839 a modern engineered road with 22 curves, of which 13 hairpin bends, on the west ramp was built. 1840 began the continuation of modern Maloja road which until then ended in Casaccia. It took until 1859 until it led to Italy. The road was well received by the traffic, in the late 19th century to 12,000 horses were counted each month that passed the pass. From 1846 onwards there was a postal route between Samedan and Chiavenna, which runs a regular service twice a week. A horse- sided start this service and in 1922 was replaced by a, PTT Alpenwagen '. This Alpine car of the PTT, the Swiss post office, a 40 -hp Saurer, still had some time to go to the then usual unsurfaced until 1934, the main road was paved. In 1957 she was extensively modernized.
The Maloja -Transport projects
Again and again aroused the Maloja due to some transport projects stir in the public. A first is from the early 18th century and involved a cross- channel Alps Milan Innsbruck, which was used for shipping between Po and Danube ( See also chapter navigation canal projects in the Alps). The project was forgotten no more, but almost as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared again. In the 20th century, the channel plans were finally an end and were replaced by plans to build a railway line.
End of the 19th century there were plans to build a railway line over the Maloja, which should see a continuation over the Julier Pass. Holsboer, the initiator of the Rhaetian Railway, developed a concept. Later, however, they decided on the Albula variant which should also continue over the Maloja towards Bergell later. Already Lanicca had more than half a century earlier, examined in the context of a comparative study on the construction of an Alpine railway, Maloja, but was the Lukmanier, Spliigen or San Bernardino as appropriate. At times, arose in the context of the construction of a standard gauge Albula Ofenberg train also plan to have branched off from this one also standard gauge railway towards Maloja. This connection Chiavenna and thus also of Lombardy to the Albula Ofenberg train was hoped to use additional transport jobs, which would significantly enlarge the catchment area.
Distances and heights of the road Chiavenna Silvaplana
- 0 km Chiavenna 325 meters above sea level. M.
- 10 km Castasegna ( Swiss-Italian border) 696 m above sea level. M.
- 13 km Promontogno 802 m above sea level. M.
- 16 km Stampa 994 m above sea level. M.
- 18 km Borgonovo 1'029 m above sea level. M.
- 19 km Vicosoprano 1'065 m above sea level. M.
- 27 km Casaccia 1'458 m above sea level. M.
- 32 km Maloja Pass 1,815 m above sea level. M.
- 33 km Maloja (village) 1,809 m above sea level. M.
- 40 km Sils im Engadin / Segl 1'798 m above sea level. M.
- 44 km Silvaplana 1'802 m above sea level. M.