Landwasser Viaduct

Landwasser Viaduct (near Filisur station)
The Landwasser Viaduct is a 65-meter-high and long railway bridge
Its pillars rise majestically 65 meters into the air: the Landwasser Viaduct on the Albula line, which enables the Rhaetian Railway to travel over the roaring Landwasser river over a length of 141.7 meters.
The viaduct leads directly into a steep rock face in a large curve. This breathtaking structure is now the most photographed subject on the Rhaetian Railway line. But the history of the viaduct's construction is also amazing:
The Greek-Swiss engineer Alexander Acatos (1873-1950) was entrusted with the construction of the viaduct. It was also he who later planned the extension of Zurich's main station for the SBB. Under Acatos' instructions, the five limestone pillars with six semicircular vaults, each with a span of 20 meters, were made from March 1901.
For cost reasons, a new construction technique was developed for the construction: the pillars were built without external auxiliary scaffolding. Instead, iron scaffolding was built into the three longest pillars and adjusted in height as construction progressed. The three iron scaffoldings were connected with crossbeams to which electric construction cranes could be mounted. These lifted the required building material to the appropriate pillar height.
A mixture of calcareous mortar and sand was used to connect the stones of the pillars together. The mortar came from a factory in Unterterzen on Lake Walen and was transported to the Landwasser viaduct on a 0.75 meter track laid on the future route.
After only around one and a half years of construction, the Landwasser viaduct was completed in October 1902. The structure has since proven to be resilient: the Landwasser Viaduct only needed minor repairs in 2009.
Today, the Landwasser Viaduct is still the landmark of the Rhaetian Railway and, as an impressive structure, invites passengers, tourists and locals to take photos.
Text / Source: Rhaetian Railway AG, Bahnhofstrasse 25, CH - 7001 Chur
rhb.ch/de/blog/weltbekannt-der-landwasserviadukt

A real landmark of Graubünden: the Landwasser Viaduct. At Filisur, you turn off the cycle path, cross the road and roll straight down the short path into the Landwasser Valley to the famous, six-arched bridge of the Rhaetian Railway. The pillars rise 65 meters into the sky, as elegant as they are impressive. 60 trains of the Albula Railway appear high up every day and disappear after 136 meters into the 216 meter long rock tunnel.