Hechenberg

The railway line between Innsbruck and Hochzirl (Tyrol) is exposed to different kind of alpine mass movements. On of this critical points has been protected by a 66 m long avalanche gallery due to frequent avalanches and sediment transport. This catchment with around 0.41 km² starts from the Hechenberg (1943 m a.s.l.) and goes down to the railway line at around 750 m a.s.l.. This site has been chosen for testing the MAMODIS System for the detection of snow avalanches in the winter and to monitor sediment transport during the summer. The installed system consists of a MAMODIS station combined with a camera based on Raspberry PI (PICam), which monitors the avalanche gallery. This Project has been started in 2019 and is sponsored by the ÖBB.

Fig. 1: Overview of the Hechenberg avalanche path/catchment area (red line), the location of the MAMODIS system and the railway line with the avalanche gallery (Source Google Maps).