Who the heck is Carl Ritter von Ghega?

A snowy day visiting the Karl Ritter von Ghega monument in Semmering Austria.

In February I started working as a senior researcher at the St. Pölten University of Applied Science’s Carl Ritter von Ghega Institute for Integrated Mobility Research. Now I know what you are thinking ,,,

Who the heck is Carl Ritter von Ghega?

According to Wikipedia … “Carl Ritter von Ghega or Karl von Ghega (10 January 1802 – 14 March 1860) was an Austrian nobleman and the designer of the Semmering Railway from Gloggnitz to Mürzzuschlag. During his time, he was the most prominent of Austrian railway engineers and architects.”

The Semmering Railway was built between 1848 and 1854 and is part of Austria’s Southern Railway (Sudbahn) between Vienna and Trieste (part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire then). It was the first standard gauge railway built over the Alps. The Semmering Railway is a UNESCO world heritage monument and there’s a good description on the UNESCO Semmering Railway page.

Visiting is easy since it’s only about one-hour by train from Vienna to Mürzzuschlag. There the excellent Sudbahn Museum has exhibits about building the Semmering Railway, Austrian railways in general, and historic rolling stock. Here’s an excellent post with history, photos and directions for hiking between Semmering and Mürzzuschlag from Andras Moser.

I was a little surprised with our institute’s name when I first heard it, but It’s nice to work on transport projects in an institute named after a famous railway engineer. And, of course, it always gives you something to talk about when people ask, who …