The Caracău Viaduct in Harghita county is the most important construction on the Miercurea-Ciuc – Ghimeş railway route, put into use on October the 18th 1897, with the opening of the Ciceu – Ghimeş railway line, important due to the fact that it connects Moldova with Transylvania. Built in a mountainous region, on a rugged terrain, difficult to access, it represents the largest artwork executed by CFR after the construction of the bridge from Cernavoda.
It was destroyed in both world wars, in 1916 and 1944, respectively, and rebuilt each time.
After the Second World War, from December 1944 until February the 12th 1945, the Romanian construction engineers made a temporary wooden viaduct. This was a unique performance in the history of railway construction.
In parallel, the construction of the current viaduct has begun and it was put into operation on the 14th of September 1946, in just 14 months. The new construction of the viaduct was the largest railway bridge made of reinforced concrete in Romania. The total length of the viaduct is 264 m, the vault has an opening of 100 m, and the arch radius is 37 m. It is the largest opening and the biggest construction height of a viaduct in the country.
Under the bridge lies the valley of the Caracău stream and from the bridge, when the weather is nice, you can see the central part of the Ciuc bottomland.
Did you know??
For a long time, the series of metal bridges between Fetești and Cernavodă railway stations, which cross the Danube and its branches, was the longest in Europe?! Designed and built by the great Romanian engineer Anghel Saligny, this series of bridges, inaugurated in 1895, is still the most remarkable work on the CFR network from a technical and aesthetic point of view. The series consists of 6 bridges and viaducts, with a total length of 4,088 meters, of which the one across the Danube (consisting of 5 openings, the central one of 190 meters) has a total length of 750 meters.
#2021EuropeanYearofRailways
#EUYearofRail
Bibliography:
THE HISTORY OF THE ROMANIAN RAILWAYS, Bucharest 2014, authors CENAFER and the CFR Museum http://livezi-ciuc.ro/viaductul-caracau.php
Other articles on the same subject:
Railway transport – the Most Ecologic Type of Passenger Transport in Europe click here
The future of transport is the railway – Chose the railway! click here
Romania – Founding Member of the International Union of Railways! click here
Railway transport – the Most Ecologic Type of Passenger Transport in Europe click here
Steam locomotives museum in Reșița click here
The “Ceferiada” Event click here
Steam locomotives museum in Dej click here
Rail transport connects Europe click here
Intelligent transport click here
The TRAIN = The railway transport is cleaner click here
140 years from the first railway built entirely by Romanian engineers click here
The railway connection of the Capital with the East and the West, in the beginning click here
The beginning of railways in Europe click here
Explore the railway route Suceava – Putna click here
The history of the royal train – CFR Călători click here
The Danube Cliff and the Filești Tunnel in the European Year of Railways click here
The Filiași – Bumbești – Livezeni railway click here
The Royal Station of Bucharest Băneasa click here
The Royal Station of Bucharest Băneasa click here
