Kaiser Wilhelm Tunnel and the "Kanonenbahn"
After the victory in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870/71, the idea of a "cannon train‘ "leading from Berlin to Metz was born in distant Berlin because of the distrust of France. In the event of war, it should be able to bring troops to the Western Front as quickly as possible. With this, a Koblenz-Trier railway project, which had been in operation since 1855, was taken up again in the Moselle valley and finally implemented. For the construction of the railway, expensive structures were required, especially between Cochem and Pünderich, including four tunnels and two large bridges over the Moselle. The greatest technical effort was made, such as the construction of the Kaiser Wilhelm Tunnel (4205 m), which was the longest tunnel in Germany for decades. After 2 1/2 years of construction, the tunnel could finally be passed on January 1, 1878 on a temporary track. It was not until May 15, 1879 that the first steam trains ran the 112 km long route from Koblenz to Trier. However, the "Kanonenbahn‘ "was not completed until one year later. In December 1973, with the electrification of the line, the age of steam locomotives on the Moselle finally came to an end. In the south you can see the north portal of the 351 m long Petersberg tunnel, from there your gaze wanders over the steel girder construction (steel arches until 1945) of the Eller bridge, built in 1955, to today's Eller bike and hiking station. This is followed by the imposing south portal of the Kaiser Wilhelm Tunnel with the eye-catching eagle crown. From 2008 to 2014 the Kaiser Wilhelm Tunnel was expanded with the construction of a second tube, and from 2014 to 2017 the old tunnel was renovated. Both tunnel tubes thus meet today's safety standards. Source: Text information board