Poland’s canal confusion

Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page D16

September 18, 2017

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Poland’s canal confusion

Source: Agencies | 00:01 UTC+8 September 18, 2017 |

Print Edition

Is it a tram or a train? Neither, it’s a boat.

Pleasure craft, using Poland’s Elblag Canal, can appear to be seen as sailing through grassy plains as they follow tracks on land in an unusual solution for dealing with elevation on the waterway.

The canal, approximately 240 kilometers, north of Warsaw, uses a system of five inclined planes between its lakes, which are too steep to be navigated using locks.

Rail tracks run carriages to transport the boats. The difference in elevation between the lowest and highest level is almost 100 meters. The biggest plane has a rise of 21 meters and is 262 meters long; the smallest a rise of 13 meters.

Kaiser Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia commissioned the 80km-long canal system to connect what was then East Prussia to the Baltic Sea. It took 16 years to build and was completed in 1860. It was used to transport wood that was used in ships’ masts. It is now used exclusively for tourism.

Mice

About Us
|
Terms of Use
|
RSS
|
Privacy Policy
|
Contact Us
|
Shanghai Call Center: 962288
|
Tip-off hotline: 52920043

沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
|
互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
|
网络视听许可证：0909346
|
广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
|
增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012

Poland’s canal confusion

Email this to your friend