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15-417: (Redirected from Canal Du Centre ) Canal du Centre may mean: Canal du Centre (Belgium) Canal du Centre (France) [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles about distinct geographical locations with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to

30-479: A UNESCO World Heritage Site . 50°28′41″N 4°06′36″E  /  50.47806°N 4.11000°E  / 50.47806; 4.11000 Str%C3%A9py-Thieu boat lift The Strépy-Thieu boat lift ( French : L'ascenseur funiculaire de Strépy-Thieu ) lies on a branch of the Canal du Centre in the municipality of Le Rœulx , Hainaut , Belgium . With a height difference of 73.15 metres (240.0 ft) between

45-457: A displacement of up to 350 tons. In 1957 the Belgian parliament passed a law providing for a major expansion of the canal, increasing the maximum displacement of a boat that could use the canal to 1,350 tonnes (1,490 tons). In the event, it was decided to alter the course of the canal rather than to enlarge it along the full extent of its existing length. A defining feature of the enlarged canal

60-571: A distance of 6,790 m (22,280 feet), which is too steep a climb for canal locks. Therefore, this section contains four hydraulic boat lifts , dating from 1888 to 1917, which are now on the UNESCO World Heritage list ( see Boat Lifts on the Canal du Centre ). These lifts were designed by Edwin Clark of the British company Clark, Stansfield & Clark. For commercial traffic this stretch of

75-482: Is supported by 112 suspension cables (for counterbalance) and 32 control cables (for lifting/lowering), each of 85 mm (3.3 in) diameter. The mass of the counterbalance was calculated to keep the tension in each of the control cables below 100 kN (22,000 lb f ) at all times. The suspension cables pass over idler pulleys with a diameter of 4.8 m (16 ft). Four electric motors power eight winches per caisson via speed-reduction gearboxes and

90-529: The Meuse and Scheldt rivers. The lift increased river traffic from 256 kT in 2001 to 2,295 kT in 2006. The four older lifts on the Canal du Centre , which became bypassed by the new Canal du Centre , are on the UNESCO World Heritage list, because of their architectural and historical value. The structure at Strépy-Thieu consists of two independent counterweighted caissons which travel vertically between

105-409: The 1960s, this was no longer adequate for the new European standard of 1350 tonnes for barge traffic, and a replacement was sought. Construction of the lift commenced in 1982 and was not completed until 2002 at an estimated cost of € 160 million (then 6.4 billion BEF ), but once operational, permitted river traffic of up to the new 1350-tonne standard to pass between the waterways of

120-421: The 73.15-metre (240.0 ft) lift is completed in seven minutes. The structure is massively reinforced to provide rigidity against torsional forces during operation and has a mass of approximately 200,000 tonnes. The vertically moving watertight gates are designed to withstand a 5 km/h (3.1 mph) impact from a 2000-tonne vessel. The boat lift is promoted as a tourist attraction in its own right by

135-579: The canal has, since 2002, been replaced by an enlarged parallel canal. For centuries, Belgian people had wanted an inland waterway to connect the Meuse and the Scheldt . However, the height difference of about 96 metres (315 ft) between the two rivers would require as many as 32 locks, which was not feasible. In 1879, the Ministry of Public Works adopted a proposal by Edwin Clark which used boat lifts instead of locks. The first lift ( Houdeng-Gœgnies )

150-424: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Canal_du_Centre&oldid=932745497 " Category : Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Canal du Centre (Belgium) The canal begins in the west at Mons , and passes through

165-472: The towns of Nimy , Obourg , Ville-sur-Haine , and Thieu . This section is 15 km (9.3 miles) long, and has a relief of 23.26 metres (76.3 feet). The canal climbs by means of six locks. There are five locks with a relief of 4.2 m (14 feet), and a final lock with a relief of 2.26 m (7 ft 5 in) at Thieu . The next section of the original canal route between Thieu and Houdeng-Gœgnies climbs 66 metres (217 feet) over

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180-670: The upstream and downstream reaches, it was the tallest boat lift in the world upon its completion, and remained so until the Three Gorges Dam ship lift in China was completed in January 2016. The boat lift was designed during the Canal du Centre's modernisation program in order to replace a system of two locks and four 16-metre (52 ft) lifts dating from 1888 to 1919. The canal itself began operations in 1879 and its locks and lifts were able to accommodate vessels of up to 300 tonnes. By

195-466: The upstream and downstream sections. Because of Archimedes' Principle , the caissons weigh the same whether they are laden with a boat or simply contain water. In practice, variations in the water level mean that the mass of each caisson varies between 7200 and 8400 tonnes. The caissons have useful dimensions of 112 m × 12 m (367 ft × 39 ft) and a water depth of between 3.35 and 4.15 m (11.0 and 13.6 ft). Each caisson

210-443: Was built between 1885 and 1888. It was inaugurated on June 4, 1888 by King Leopold II . The three other boat lifts were finally finished in 1917 and put into service in 1919. There were several reasons for this delay. From 1894 to 1911, the economic need for the canal was repeatedly called into question. Then in 1914, when the three lifts were practically finished, World War I began. The old canal could accommodate boats with

225-579: Was the Strépy-Thieu boat lift which replaced the four smaller boat lifts and one or two locks which had been part of the former canal. The Canal du Centre was opened to boats with a displacement of 1,350 tonnes in September 2002. Between 2000 and 2004 the annual ship transits increased from 1,531 to 4,041 while the tonnage carried increased from 282,000 to 1,513,000. The lifts on the old parallel canal remain in position, having in 1998 been designated

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