Haintal Viaduct

The Haintal Viaduct is the second largest viaduct of the Odenwald Railway. Built over 140 years ago, it still enables the Odenwaldbahn to be connected to the Neckar.

The Haintal Viaduct is located between the Hesseneck Kailbach stop and the former Friedrichsdorf (near Eberbach) stop, a few meters before the state border between Hesse and Baden-Württemberg on the Hesse side, but opposite Friedrichsdorf, a district of Eberbach.

The 36-kilometer section of the Odenwaldbahn between Erbach and Eberbach am Neckar, built from 1878-1882, had to overcome difficult terrain. In addition to the Krähberg tunnel, over 150 larger and smaller structures had to be built. At the most south-westerly point of the Hesseneck-Kailbach district, a few meters from the state border and from the upper village of the Baden community of Friedrichsdorf, the Haintal Viaduct spans the Itterbach side valley of the same name.Its construction is a scaled-down copy of the Himbächel Viaduct. It consists of nine arches with a span of 15 meters each; its length is 173 meters, its height 30 meters. The viaduct was built in 1881 by the building contractor Bell from Nuremberg. The total cost was 170,000 marks. Two smaller viaducts follow to the south over the Rindengrund and the Kurz Tal, each with a length of 60 and a height of 20 meters.