Ludwig Canal

Map of the Ludwigskanal

The various projects to link the Main and Danube

Karte und Längenprofil des Ludwig Kanales,Stahlstich (1845) von Alexander Marx

TheLudwig Canal(German:Ludwig-Donau-Main-KanalorLudwigskanal), is an abandonedcanalinSouthern Germany.

Lock 100 at Bamberg

History

The canal linked theDanube RiveratKelheimwith theMain RiveratBamberg,connecting theDanube basinwith theRhine basin.The first realisation of a dream to enable barges to navigate from theNorth Seato theBlack Sea,the Ludwig Canal proved to be unsustainable, and was eventually succeeded by a larger canal, over a century later.

Named afterKing Ludwig I of Bavaria,the canal was built between 1836 and 1846. Whereas the Main and the Danube were both broad canalised rivers, the Ludwig Canal was a narrow channel, with numerouslocks,and a shortage of water supply to thesummit level.The canal became a bottleneck, and the operation of the waterway soon became uneconomic. A further nail in the canal's coffin was competition from the rapidly developingrailwaynetwork in the southern German countryside.Rather than repair the damage suffered duringWorld War II,(the canal being close to the bombed city ofNuremberg), the canal was finally abandoned in 1950.

Construction of the Ludwig Canal's replacement, the much largerRhine–Main–Danube Canal,was started in 1921, but not completed until 1992. The new canal is shorter and follows a route to the south and west of the earlier canal.

The remnants of the Ludwig Canal

Today, there still exists betweenNurembergandBerchingsome 60 km (37 mi) of canal in good condition. Some of the locks still function, and part of the towpath has been converted to a cycle track.The old canal comes close to the new canal atPollanten,and from there the two canals flow downstream in parallel, eventually meeting 5 km south ofBerching.

External links

• "Ludwig-Donau-Main-Kanal".Ludwig-Donau-Main-Kanal(in German).Retrieved2020-07-03.