Lempaala Canal Stock Photo

Lempaala channel is located in the center of Lempaala connecting Pyhäjärvi and Vanaja water channel with a length of 1 275 meters and a height of fall of 2.20-2.40 meters. The channel is one of the 160 meters long and 8 meters wide barrier. The channel crosses two road bridges and one railway bridge. Maximum dimensions of vessels are 145.0 × 7.5 × 1.8 × 5.5 meters (length × width × height × clipping); the ship's mast height may be due to the bridges of up to 5.5 meters. Current Lempaalan canal was built between 1867-1874 in the relief efforts. Initially, the channel ran a busy passenger, but after the Hämeenlinna-Tampere railway was completed in 1876, the channel was used mainly to transport goods. In the period 1958-1961 the channel was renewed for timber floating. In this case, the channel shut-off was increased to its present size, and the upper channel was deepened. The channel current appearance is from this period. Channel nowadays mainly serves tourism and is on Finnish Silverline ferry route from Tampere to Hameenlinna.