Rhine Regulation

One of the worst instances took place on 28 September 1868, when almost the whole of the Rhine valley from Sevelen to Lake Constance stood under water.

From 1861 to 1881, the canton of St. Gallen, supported by the Swiss Federal Treasury, the Principality of Liechtenstein and the Austrian Empire, created a regular riverbed between Landquart and Au.

As a result, the 20.8 km (12.9 mi) long Werdenberg Canal was built in less than two years, from 1882 to 1884, collecting all the tributaries between Wartau and Rüthi and feeding their waters into the Rhine.

The 1892 treaty between Austria-Hungary and Switzerland on the regulation of the Rhine[4] put to an end the many flood disasters on the Alpine Rhine between Sargans and Lake Constance, reducing the course of the river by means of two cuts in order to increase the gradient, raise the flow rate of the river and prevent deposition of sediments.

The company, Internationale Rheinregulierung (IRR) is the umbrella under which the two countries, Austria and Switzerland, coordinated the construction and they still maintain the banks today.

Narrow gauge locomotive and steam-powered digger near Fussach in the late 19th century
Mural with the inscription Rheinnot 1762–1890 ("Rhine Emergency 1762-1890") on the façade of the municipal office in Mäder .
Map of the Rhine Regulation as an official annext to the state treaty