STUVA News

STUVA turns 50

Untertiteltext Englisch

1 The Schmitz-Scholl vision: possible routes for underground links joining up cities in the Rhine-Ruhr area

2 The prize-winning design for a large perfectly cylindrical caisson multipurpose structure to be used for transport, industry and civil defence. (Design: Dipl.-Ing. H. Will [3]

3 “Full house” for the first time at the STUVA. Announcement of the prize winners and the opening of the first exhibition for the ideas competition in the great hall at the Haus der Technik in Essen

4 GVFG financial aid from 1967 to 2009 for investments and research in ÖPNV (mill. €) [VDV] [7]

5 Urban designing through relocating traffic in tunnels (City of Munich) taking the example of the Munich Weinstraße: on the left prior to tunnel construction, on the right thereafter

6 Public transportation routes in the Rhine-Ruhr built-up area as in 2009/2010 (VRR) (KVB) [6]

In June 2010 the Research Association for Underground Transportation Facilities (STUVA) celebrated its 50^th birthday [8]*. The following authentic report vividly described by Prof. Girnau, who witnessed it all from the very beginning, takes up back to the origins of the STUVA thus showing how the Research Association, which enjoys an outstanding reputation throughout the world, became that which it is today: an essential element of tunnelling.

STUVA’s Beginnings and the Karl Schmitz-Scholl Plan

Towards the end of the 1950s various things occurred at different places, which were to culminate in what became known as the STUVA in June 1960:
■ In Mühlheim an der Ruhr the entrepreneur Karl Schmitz-Scholl, the sole managing partner of the supermarket chain Emil Tengelmann and the Wissoll-Schokoladenwerke delivered a lecture to the local Rotary Club. However in contrast to other lectures held within this illustrious gremium, which were more of an informative nature, this lecture provoked an unexpected resonance from the general public and in...