Vízügyi Közlemények, 1992 (74. évfolyam)

2. füzet - Weckerle, Konrad: Európai infrastruktúra: A Majna-Duna kapcsolat

Európai infrastruktiira: A Majna-Duna kapcsolat 159 tern-, Middle- and Eastern Europe will not be paralized in the lack of appropriate communication network. This also means that the divided traffic policies of Europe did not become rigid. Creators of the epoch-making Main-Danube canal had found and also revolutionary solution for the financing of the construction. Costs of construction the canal have been covered by the income from the selling of the electrical energy generated by 55 hydropower stations (Figure 2.) that were buillt on five Bavarian rivers. In designing the Main-Danube canal efforts were made to construct the least possible number of river dams, thus assuring the shortest possible time of passage through the canal. The cross-sectional dimensions of the canal as well as the up-to-date options for lining it (Figure 7.) have been analyzed in details in order to arrive at the highest cargo-shipping capacity in an economically optimum manner. The means of assuring the most water-saving filling of the navigation locks have been also analyzed (Figures 8. and 9.). Aspects of environmental protection had played a dominant role in the planning phase of the canal project. Landscape firendly solutions have been found (Figures 10. and 11.) and it is also worthwhile to mention that of the DM 500 million construction cost of the much disputed 18 km long section of the canal, between Kelheim and Riedenburg, 75 million had been spent on nature conservation purposes. This was five times more than that demanded by environmentalists. The author presents the results of the enormous survey of the pre- and post-project conditions of vegetation and wildlife. Nevertheless the author raises objection against the procedure (or rather declares it disonest) when „photographs of a construction site are taken and compared to those of the pre-project natural conditions". The author analyses the navigation conditions between Mainz and Vienna, claiming the necessity of assuring uniform navigation conditions over the entire waterway (Figure 16.). He states that after putting the river-dam of Straubing into operation the only „weak-point" of the Rhine-Danube (Vienna) waterway, in 1995, will be the 69 km long river reach between Straubing and Vilshofen (Figure 15.). Since low-flow regulation can not assure appropriate draft along the Straubing-Vilshofen Danube reach a combination of damming and channel-regulation methods have been finally selected, after having 18 different options analyzed, as the optimum solution (Figure 15.). 1Ъе author states that a new era of inland navigation has been launched with the opening of the Main-Danube waterway. Cargo-shipping will be made in containers, mostly in the case of package cargos, that allow the combination with rail- and road transport as well. In the case of mass goods the application of the ,,just-in-time" arrival principle can help save the high costs of storage. Inland navigation is the most environmentfriendly way of transport, being the economically optimum one at the same time. The unit cost of shipping (per ton-kilometer) is one-third of that of the rail-transport and one-sixth of that of the road-transport. It was by no means a random process that resulted in nearly as much cargo-shipping by inland navigation as that of the Federal Railway of Germany, before even the Rhine-Main-Danube waterway had been put into full use. * * * Infrastructure européenne: liaison Main-Danube par Dr. Konrad WECKERLE, dr. juris L'auteur représente le réseau des voies de navigation européennes (Figure 1.). A partir des argumentations économiques et politiques l'auteur démontre que la mise en exploitation du canal Main-Danube est regié ä temps correspondant aux besoins. Son importance est indiscutable, étant donné que le canal Main-Danube relie le Rhin et le Danube. L'un est un fleuvre avec son transport intensitié, I'autre est le plus long cours d'eau en Europe. Cette voie de navigation est