Alois Negrelli

Alois Negrelli, Ritter von Moldelbe (January 23, 1799 - October 1, 1858), was an Italian engineer and railroad pioneer active in the Austrian Empire.

He was born as Luigi Negrelli in the village Fiera di Primiero (Primör), in County of Tyrol (then part of the Austrian Empire - today Trentino, Italy), went to secondary school in Feltre and studied in Padua and Innsbruck, then the capital of the Crownland of Tyrol. After beginning his career in Innsbruck, he lived for some time in Bregenz, Vorarlberg, Austria, where he earned a reputation in the channelization of the Alpenrhein and of the various Austrian and Swiss interests connected therewith. He moved to Switzerland in 1832 where he continued similar works in the Canton of St. Gallen. In 1835, he was called to Zurich, where he executed various works, notably the Munster Bridge together with Ferdinand Stadler who was responsible for the carpentry. Stone bridges were built over a wooden timber frame at this time. He also started to draw plans for the first Swiss railroad, the Swiss Northern Railway, from Zurich to Baden, which several years later were built under his supervision. During a journey to England, France and Belgium, he studied the new railways and subsequently published his ideas of adapting this technology to mountainous regions in some papers receiving wide attention in the industry.

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