The rebuilt plant was to be constructed on the site of the old hydro-electric plant. The structure lies between the Montreux Oberland Bernois Railway (MOB) line and the river Simme. Moreover, the whole headrace channel is within the boundaries of Holzwerke Rieder’s timber depot. The Simme was completely diverted to allow construction of the new weir field and inlet. A fish ladder was also installed for this building project, in accordance with standard practice when working with power stations next to flowing water. This was built close to the inlet site, parallel to the river.
The MOB railway line could only be completely closed for a single weekend. The follow-up works were carried out in the presence of track safety supervisors while rail traffic continued to run.
Excavation work under the base of the track also revealed a saturated bog, in which the channel had to be rebuilt. The water outlets – which were installed in the course of a single night shift – were pre-fabricated next to the installation site at the planned location for the crane. With the help of five diggers and ten heavy vehicles, the trench was prepared for the pre-fabricated outlets in one night. A nail wall constructed in advance supported one side of the trench, which naturally tapered on the other three sides. The channel parts in the inlet area weigh around 25 tonnes each, and the bridge trough around 40 tonnes. At the outlet area, the channels weigh around 35 tonnes each and the trough around 48 tonnes.
