Friesenbrücke

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Coordinates: 53 ° 9 ′ 41 ″  N , 7 ° 22 ′ 21 ″  E

Friesenbrücke
Friesenbrücke
The Friesenbrücke over the Ems near Weener (2013)
use Railway line, footpath and bike path
Subjugated Ems
place Weener , Westoverledingen
Entertained by Deutsche Bahn AG
overall length 335 m
height 4 m
start of building 1924
completion 1926
opening 1926
closure 2015
location
Friesenbrücke (Lower Saxony)
Friesenbrücke
Above sea level 0  m above sea level NN

The Friesenbrücke is a single-track, non-electrified and currently partially destroyed railway bridge on the Leer – Groningen railway line with a sidewalk and bike path across the Ems near the East Frisian town of Weener in Lower Saxony .

On the evening of December 3, 2015, a cargo ship rammed the closed hinged part of the bridge and destroyed it. In the best case scenario, the unusable bridge is to be Template: future / in 4 yearsreplaced by a new one by 2024 . A free ferry is available for pedestrians and cyclists in the summer months.

history

Today's Friesenbrücke was the second bridge structure at this point. From 1874 to 1876, a 345 meter long bridge with an integrated swing bridge was built over the Ems.

On the night of 26 on July 27, 1913. ran over passenger train , the "stop" pointing in fog Ausfahrsignal of Hilkenborg , which also secured the crossing over the bridge. It wasn't closed yet. When the bridge keeper stationed on the west side saw the train approaching, he tried to close the bridge. But the train was faster. Meanwhile, the engine driver had noticed his mistake and stopped. However, that was no longer quite enough. The steam locomotive drove into the gap, the clutch held and the train acted as a counterweight to prevent the locomotive from crashing into the Ems.

The first bridge was replaced in the years from 1924 to 1926 by a steel truss bridge with a roller bascule bridge over the shipping opening. In mid-April 1945, shortly before the end of the Second World War , Wehrmacht soldiers blew up the bridge. From 1950 to 1951 it was rebuilt in the same form

The Friesenbrücke after the collision
Destroyed folding element seen from the north
The Emsmoon that rammed the bridge on December 3, 2015

Accident on December 3, 2015

On the evening of December 3, 2015, the cargo ship Emsmoon of the Papenburg shipping company Grona Shipping, measured with 4563 GT , rammed the folding part of the closed bridge, destroyed it and shifted the superstructure of the bridge by a few meters due to the force of the impact. The damage appears irreparable. The section of the Ems was immediately closed to seagoing vessels because of the rubble. A part of the bridge was lifted out with a floating crane so that ocean-going vessels could pass the accident site again; for inland waterway vessels the passage was already possible again since December 4th. Since then, the bridge can no longer be used. Since then, a replacement rail service has been set up between Leer and Weener for the Leer – Groningen line , which is otherwise operated by Arriva Nederland trains. For the transition period up to the completion of the new bridge, it should be possible to cross the Ems by ferry between April and October, depending on the tide. The start of ferry operations was originally planned for June 2017, but has been postponed several times. The opening planned for September 8, 2018 failed due to the unfinished access road.

On December 10, 2015, the Emden Waterways and Shipping Office re-opened the Ems for shipping. An excavator had previously restored the normal target depth in the area of ​​the Friesenbrücke bridge. Now even large ocean-going vessels can cross the bridge again. The light signals are permanently on green. The control center is no longer manned.

Accident investigations were initiated by the Aurich public prosecutor's office. No evidence of technical defects was found either on the ship or the bascule bridge. At first it was not clear who was in command of the damaged vessel : the master or the pilot. The shipping clerk of the freighter was evaluated, and the prosecutor Aurich said after investigation, in July 2016, against the pilot and the captain to have provided blank application for a penal order with the district court. Contrary to the regulations, the pilot allegedly steered the ship himself and drove towards the bridge without the bridge attendant's permit. The master is said to have left the helm to the pilot and to have used neither a lookout nor radar observation.

According to the final judgment of the Aurich Regional Court, the captain and the pilot did not issue a penalty order because they "acted negligently, but did not significantly breach their duties". According to the investigation report published by the Federal Bureau of Maritime Casualty Investigation on February 23, 2017, the destruction of the closed bascule bridge was caused by a radio communication between the bridge keeper and the pilot that was misunderstood on both sides.

According to the report, the following factors contributed to the accident:

  • Informal communication between pilot and bridge, no binding status reports from ship and bridge
  • Communication between the pilot and the bridge in German, so the master had to rely on the pilot's statements about the open bridge
  • possible reduction of the pilot's attention by taking over the command elements and radio communication
  • missing procedural instructions for radio communication between bridge and ships
  • No radar monitoring of the section by the traffic control center in Emden, there is also no information about the status of the bridge except for the overheard radio
  • Stopping a larger seagoing vessel on a longer stretch of river in front of the bridge is not possible, at least at ebb current, the ship can only adjust its voyage a little to the planned opening times of the bridge
  • there is a lack of suitable waiting places with sufficient draft for large seagoing vessels at a sufficient distance from the bridge
  • The optical signals on the bridge are not designed to be recognized from a distance sufficient for shipping and were not recognized by the ship
  • apparently due to the bridge construction, the bridge opening cannot be safely displayed as open / closed on most radar screens
  • On the lake side behind the bridge there is a brightly lit factory and at the time of the accident there was an excavator, which also made it difficult to see the bridge and its signals with the deck lighting switched on.

The BSU says in her report made several recommendations to improve the situation on the Ems, which at least partly to the Jann-Berghaus Bridge relate in Leer, u. a. a clear involvement of the traffic control center as the traffic-directing authority in front of the bridges (quote: "the agreements [...] on the reporting channel for the opening of the Friesenbrücke [...] are unsuitable for the smooth operation of the bridge [...]"), an improved status report of the bridges e.g. . B. on the portable navigation systems of the pilots, setting up bridge signals for shipping at a sufficient distance and ensuring sufficiently deep waiting areas in front of the bridges if the bridge cannot be opened unexpectedly.

Currently planned new building

At this point, screws instead of rivets are installed in order to be able to remove the middle section of the bridge.
On February 8, 2013, the middle segment for the passage of the AIDAstella was removed with a floating crane .

The damaged bridge is not to be repaired, but to be replaced by a new building, because until now Meyer Werft had to laboriously dismantle the middle section of the bridge on the occasion of each passage in order to transfer its ships. Nevertheless, the bridge remained the reason for constructive compromises, especially with the size of the ships. Now what is probably the largest swing bridge in the world is to be built here in the form of a lifting- rotating bridge. To do this, the rotating pillar would have to be relocated, so that a planning approval procedure is required for the building permit , which was initiated in December 2019 after completion of the draft planning with an environmental impact study . The railway is aiming for a construction phase between 2021 and 2024.

The federal government will assume EUR 20 million and the state of Lower Saxony EUR 5 million of the additional costs initially assumed compared to a repair . The latter also bears the three million euros for the pedestrian and cycle path, which was not initially planned by Deutsche Bahn, as well as the planning costs. The funding provided by the federal government is mentioned in the 2019 federal budget. It should be made from the resources of the performance and financing agreement; an additional requirement of up to 15 million euros can be made from saved funds for replacement, expansion and new construction measures on federal waterways. The freighter's liability insurance only took over 4 million euros. Overall, the construction costs are estimated at 80 million euros. They are to be borne by the government, Deutsche Bahn and Meyer Werft.

The Friesen ferry operated by the shipping company Schulte & Bruns with a capacity for twelve pedestrians or eight cyclists has been transporting these across the Ems since October 6, 2018. Operation was originally planned from 2017. From November to March the ferry traffic has a winter break.

Technical parameters

The 1924 built and 1926 was manufactured building by MAN Gustavsburg . Since then, the steel structure has consisted of six sections, each with a span of around 50 meters and a bascule bridge with a span of 30 meters. It is 335 meters long. The pillars are founded 12.7 to 15.5 meters deep, the spans of the fixed bridge fields are 50.64 meters. The passage width of the opened folding section was only 25 meters, which is not enough for many of the Meyer Werft's new ships . Therefore, for a new building passage after opening the movable part, the adjacent overhead structure was unhooked by a floating crane , detached with its connection component and folded over the following structure. This created a second passage, which is much wider at 46.6 meters. In this state, the folding section could no longer be closed, instead of trains, replacement rail traffic was then used .

At times the Friesenbrücke was the longest railway bascule bridge in Germany.

Traffic significance

railroad

The bridge over the Ems was part of the Leer – Groningen railway line . The railway line was the shortest connection from Hamburg to Amsterdam until around 1975 . In the last few years it was of little importance in long-distance transport. Most recently, 14 regional train pairs operated by the DB subsidiary Arriva Netherlands ran every hour between Groningen and Leer every working day . Since the bridge was destroyed, the trains that originally ran through to Leer have ended in Weener in East Frisia, the last German stop on the western side of the Ems. From there, you can take an ordinary bus to Leer train station. In addition, a rail replacement service with express buses has been running every two hours between Groningen and Leer every two hours since December 11, 2015 .

Footpath and bike path

The Friesenbrücke also carried a footpath and cycle path on the southern side upstream . The bridge was a vital link for both locals and cyclists on the Dortmund-Ems canal route , the German Fehnroute , the Emsradweg and Kreuzfahrtweg , a more local Wheel theme route, which has the ship transfers of the Meyer shipyard on the subject.

Shipping

Here, the Ems is part of the Untere Ems shipping route up to and including the Papenburg port , a connection which, with the Dortmund-Ems Canal, is an inland waterway that leads to the Ruhr area . For vehicles of commercial vessels (mainly maritime ) and recreational boating with higher structures had to be opened, the bridge, which lasted ten minutes or longer depending on the duration of the passage of the ship.

photos

  • Aerial photo 2013

  • Bridge open to shipping

  • Passage of the Celebrity Reflection 2012

  • Counterweight of the folding segment in detail

  • Blackboard on the bridge house

literature

in alphabetical order by authors / editors

See also

Web links

Commons : Friesenbrücke  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Waterways and Shipping Directorate Northwest: Plan approval decision for the expansion of the Ems federal waterway from km 0 to km 40.45 , accessed on December 8, 2015
  2. ↑ Schenkelberg: The Friesenbrücke over the Ems near Weener . In: Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung , 46th year 1926, No. 47 (from November 24, 1926), p. 530. (see literature )
  3. ↑ https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/niedersachsen/oldenburg_ostfriesland/Weener-Neue-Friesenbruecke-soll-2024-verbind-sein,friesenbruecke302.html
  4. ↑ Schenkelberg: The Friesenbrücke over the Ems near Weener . In: Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung, 46th year 1926, No. 47 (from November 24, 1926), pp. 530-533 (cf. literature).
  5. ^ Bernhard Püschel: Historical railway catastrophes. A chronicle of accidents from 1840 to 1926 . Freiburg 1977, ISBN 3-88255-838-5 , p. 96f.
  6. ↑ a b Freighter crashes into railway bridge on Ems . In: Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung , December 3, 2015. 
  7. ↑ collision. Freighter destroys Friesenbrücke. In: NDR online, news for Lower Saxony from December 4, 2015.
  8. ↑ Freighter accident on the Ems: accident with fatal consequences. In: Nordwest-Zeitung of December 5, 2015, accessed December 9, 2015.
  9. ↑ Trial operation for Ems ferry near Weener from August , noz.de, June 21, 2018, accessed on July 8, 2018.
  10. ↑ Kreiszeitung dated September 5, 2018: access not cleared. The Ems ferry at Friesenbrücke cannot depart , accessed on September 13, 2018.
  11. ↑ ndr.de: Friesenbrücke - Ems is free again for seagoing vessels , accessed on December 11, 2015
  12. ↑ Destroyed bridge in Weener: Now the public prosecutor takes over. In: Nordwest-Zeitung of December 8, 2015, accessed December 9, 2015.
  13. ↑ Friesenbrücke: Voice recorder evaluated. Article in NDR of March 11, 2016, accessed on April 9, 2016.
  14. ^ Friesenbrücke in Weener - investigations completed. (No longer available online.) July 29, 2016, archived from the original on August 1, 2016 ; accessed on August 1, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.staatsanwaltschaften.niedersachsen.de
  15. ↑ Friesenbrücke: The ship's crew remains unpunished. NDR, January 18, 2017, accessed December 5, 2017 .
  16. ↑ Investigation Report 470/15 - collision of Emsmoon with the railway bridge (Friesenbrücke) in Weener / Ems on December 3, 2015 , Federal Bureau of Maritime Casualty of 23 February 2017
  17. ^ Friesenbrücke: Regulate radio traffic again , Nordwestzeitung, page 16, from February 28, 2017
  18. ↑ The dialogue is printed in Braun, p. 62.
  19. ↑ https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/niedersachsen/Neue-Friesenbruecke-fruehesten-Ende-2024-verbind,friesenbruecke326.html
  20. ↑ Weener: The new Friesenbrücke should be ready in 2024. Article in NDR from June 19, 2018, accessed on August 20, 2018.
  21. ↑ https://bauprojekte.deutschebahn.com/p/friesenbruecke
  22. ↑ No rush to build the new Weener Friesenbrücke . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International 10 (2017), ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 478.
  23. ↑ http://dipbt.bundestag.de/doc/btd/19/034/1903400.pdf page 1672
  24. ↑ http://dipbt.bundestag.de/doc/btd/19/034/1903400.pdf page 1781
  25. ^ Bahn boss: "Five years too long for Friesenbrücke". Article in NDR of March 20, 2016, accessed on April 9, 2016.
  26. ↑ https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/niedersachsen/Neue-Friesenbruecke-fruehesten-Ende-2024-verbind,friesenbruecke326.html
  27. ↑ Planning for the new construction of the Friesenbrücke is finished. December 20, 2019, accessed March 19, 2020 .
  28. ↑ ENI 04813280
  29. ↑ https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/niedersachsen/oldenburg_ostfriesland/Zerstoerte-Friesenbruecke-Faehre-lop-endet-ab,friesenfaehre118.html
  30. ↑ https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/niedersachsen/oldenburg_ostfriesland/Mit-einem-jahr-Verspaetung-Emsfaehre-ist-da,friesenbruecke310.html
  31. ^ A b Paul Schlodtmann: New construction of the railway bridge over the Ems near Weener (Part 1) . (PDF) In: Die Bautechnik . 3, No. 23, May 29, 1925, pp. 297-300. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  32. ↑ www.baw.de: Friesenbrücke near Weener with Unterems. Image archive of the Federal Institute for Hydraulic Engineering, accessed on February 10, 2015.
  33. ↑ Bad Nieuweschans-Leer: geen treinen maar bussen ( Dutch ) In: arriva.nl . December 15, 2015. Archived from the original on December 23, 2015. Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 22, 2015. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arriva.nl
  34. ↑ Christoph Schillingmann: Junction is no longer available: Accident at Friesenbrücke affects cycle tourism . In: Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung , December 9, 2015. Accessed December 21, 2015. 
  35. ↑ Rudi Meyer: With a tailwind from Halt to Ditzum . In: Ostfriesen-Zeitung , September 20, 2010. Accessed December 21, 2015.