Linz railway bridge

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Steel construction illuminated at night, view from the right bank towards the northeast
The former railway bridge with the Vöestbrücke in the background
Bridge foundations after the structures were removed in 2016

The Linz railway bridge was one of the three Linz bridges over the Danube at river kilometer 2133.90. It was part of the connecting line between the Mühlkreisbahn and the Westbahn , which, however, was never used for passenger traffic in its history. Despite its name, it was mainly used for road traffic and was only temporarily closed to car traffic on the central lane during a train crossing, similar to a level crossing .

In summer 2016 the bridge was demolished in order to be replaced by a successor bridge carrying trams and road traffic.

Building

The railway bridge was built between 1897 and 1900 for 1.2 million crowns and opened on November 14, 1900. It was planned and built by the kk priv. Court locksmith Anton Biró , one of the two later partners of Waagner-Biro .

The construction site in March 1900, view in west direction (upstream)
bridgehead

The bridge was planned from the outset for shared use of railways and private transport and was intended to complement an existing iron bridge over the Danube. Another special feature was the riveted iron construction, which is hardly preserved in Austria. It was 375 meters long and consisted of three arched truss parts, which were supported by two brick pillars standing in the river bed. The half-timbered parts that lead from there to the bank were parallel half-timbered buildings.

The bridge, which survived the Second World War unscathed, was practically listed twice. As a result of the restructuring of the ÖBB in 1994, the bridge lost the protection for the first time, which was automatically given before as public property. It was not until 2002 that the monument office became aware of this after considering changes on the part of the ÖBB and placed it under monument protection again. This was canceled in 2013 due to the poor condition of the bridge and the high costs associated with a necessary renovation.

gallery

  • ÖBB 2016 on the Linz railway bridge

  • View in east direction (downstream)

  • Railway bridge Linz March 2015

Bicycle and pedestrian traffic

Grids, darker the middle, more finely divided row

The bridge originally had two sidewalks signposted outside the supporting structures, transversely planked with wooden boards. Cycle traffic was prohibited on these, at least at times. Since riding a bicycle on the road was quite dangerous, especially because of the narrow width of the road and the rails, there were still many bicycles on the sidewalk. From 1990 the upstream walkway was converted into a cycle path. In the course of this, the path should be widened, as in some places (with more protruding parts of the structure) it was only about 1.40 m wide, which could be dangerously narrow when two bicycles met. The city administration was looking for a construction that would not put too much weight on the bridge when the path was widened to around 2.20 m. A solution was implemented with three rows of gratings, which led to a relatively bumpy ride and caused a relatively loud rattling noise. Due to renovation work, the downstream sidewalk was closed from October to December 2011; for the duration of the renovation, the upstream cycle path was used as a pedestrian and cycle path, whereby cyclists were allowed to use the path at a maximum of 10 km / h.

Decision for demolition and new construction

According to an expert opinion, the steel structure of the bridge was massively damaged as a result of the salt spread, so that gusts of wind would have endangered the bridge. The construction as a riveted iron structure would have resulted in high costs for renovation, so that, in the opinion of State Transport Authority Hermann Kepplinger, demolition and new construction was the most sensible option both technically and economically. The Federal Monuments Office therefore released the bridge from monument protection in September 2013 on the grounds that the renovation could not guarantee risk-free operation.

On Saturday, February 27, 2016 at 00:30 a.m., the bridge was closed to all traffic. Of 1000 vehicles that passed the bridge at peak hour, traffic researchers expected that 300–400 each would drive over Voest Bridge and Nibelungen Bridge.

The design for the new Danube bridge has been fixed since autumn 2014; construction began on February 27, 2016 with a total closure of the old bridge. On September 27, 2015, a referendum decided on the future of the 115 year old railway bridge. The population of Linz could decide whether to build a new bridge or to renovate the existing one and build an accompanying bridge for trams and vehicles. The vote ended with the result that 68% of voters voted to demolish and build a new bridge. The Mayor of Linz, Klaus Luger , declared the result to be binding. The award procedure for the demolition of the structures started in October 2015 and was completed in January 2016. The actual demolition work took place between May and December 2016. The new construction of the bridge is planned for August 2017 to May / June 2020.

Demolition work

Demolition of the Linz railway bridge - last segment
Electric power structures stored on the banks of the Danube before they were cut up; on the right the crashed structure

On February 27, 2016, the demolition of the railway bridge began with the dismantling of the so-called foreland structures. First, the asphalt surface and the tracks were removed in order to reduce the weight of the structure. On the north side of the Danube, a storage and manipulation area as well as a landfall facility for ships have been set up on the north side of the Danube, which is used for both the demolition work and the new construction. The footpath and bike path have been diverted to neighboring bridges. From April 2016, the foreland structures on the north side were demolished.

Demolition of the power structures

The three power structures (the three distinctive bridge arches) were dismantled in August 2016. The power structures were lifted with a pontoon with two heavy-duty self-propelled vehicles, on which scaffolding was attached, and floated upstream with a push boat. For this purpose, a pontoon filled with water was placed under the respective power structure. By pumping out the water, the pontoon with the scaffolding rose and the structure was lifted by the buoyancy. The power structure on the north side was brought ashore with the pusher and the two heavy-duty self-propelled vehicles were placed on supports with hydraulic presses, the two following structures on foldable supports on the manipulation area.

The dismantling and preparation for transport by ship or truck takes place on land. The structure is being dismantled because, at 13 meters high, it would not pass through either of the two neighboring bridges. A bridge arch is preserved for subsequent use.

On August 19, 2016, the last of the 3 power structures was removed and shipped to the manipulation area.

Finally, the small foreland structure on the south side will be removed. The demolition work on the railway bridge should be completed by autumn 2016. The bridge piers in the Danube will be retained until the new construction.

incident

When, on August 13, 2016, the orographic left of the 3 lattice structure arches was the first to be parked on six 6 m high supports with hydraulic rams on the asphalt work site on Urfahr's side (on the left bank), these failed and left the 710 tonne , which was intended for scrapping, 87 m long Component fall to the ground. The plate of a support tilted visibly. One person had shouted “Away, away, away!”, A few seconds later the bow crashed to the ground. All 10 workers were able to get to safety. The incident was investigated by civil engineers. The foundations for parking were reinforced with concrete.

costs

The demolition costs amounted to around 3.3 million euros. Of this, around 2.7 million euros were taken over by ÖBB .

New bridge

Construction of a new railway bridge (January 2019)

After the preparatory work, which lasted from August to October 2017, the construction of the new bridge for the bridge known as the New Danube Bridge Linz and the construction of the road connections began in the early summer of 2018 . The new bridge was originally scheduled to open to traffic in August 2020. The costs for road construction and ancillary services amount to around eight million euros.

The new building will be 396 meters long and rest on three pillars. There will be a distance of 120 meters between the pillars, and 78 meters between the outer pillars and the end of the bridge.

The width will be 33 meters, of which 3.5 meters will be allocated to two lanes for cars and buses, six meters to the rails, two meters on each side for pedestrians and 2.5 meters on each side for cyclists. The rest is made up of dividing strips, safety clearances and space for the supporting structure.

In June 2017, the city of Linz announced that the planned bridge had been successfully examined in six proceedings on water, environmental and shipping law. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on July 4, 2018. Completion was originally planned for autumn 2020, but an error in the static calculations meant that 500 tons of steel were not calculated enough. This not only increases costs, but the completion has been postponed. The opening is now to take place in autumn 2021, the total costs for the construction of the bridge will be around 82 million euros.

literature

Web links

Commons : Linzer Eisenbahnbrücke  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The connecting line Linz Urfahr - Linz Hauptbahnhof (Mühlkreisbahn part 2) , accessed on March 26, 2019
  2. ↑ Video 002 (bahn1.at) - connecting railway in Linz. Retrieved February 24, 2020 .
  3. ^ Between banks in suspension ( Memento of February 6, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) in the lexicon of the Wiener Zeitung, accessed on May 31, 2010
  4. ^ Railway bridge in Upper Austria 1900, accessed on May 31, 2010.
  5. ↑ Linz railway bridge on the initiative of monument protection, accessed on May 31, 2010
  6. ↑ The railway bridge is indispensable for Linz! ( Memento from January 26, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Press release from December 1, 2009, accessed on June 13, 2018
  7. ↑ The railway bridge: A Linz landmark (PDF; 2.4 MB) from a newspaper clipping accessed on May 31, 2010
  8. ↑ Unique on the central Danube | Nachrichten.at
  9. ↑ Surprising monument protection for the railway bridge in Linz worries the traffic planners ( Memento from July 31, 2007 in the web archive archive.today ) Original page from August 5, 2002, accessed on June 17, 2015.
  10. ↑ a b No more monument protection for railway bridge. orf.at, September 3, 2013, accessed September 4, 2013 .
  11. ↑ Railway bridge: the sidewalk can be used again at the end of December. Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, November 26, 2011, accessed on September 4, 2013 .
  12. ↑ The railway bridge can only be used until the end of 2012. Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, April 7, 2010, accessed on September 4, 2013 .
  13. ↑ New report on the railway bridge. orf.at, December 17, 2015, accessed on February 27, 2016 . .
  14. ↑ Closure of the railway bridge: traffic jams expected. orf.at, February 25, 2016, accessed on February 27, 2016 .
  15. ↑ Demolition of the railway bridge becomes a challenge. Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, February 4, 2016, accessed on February 27, 2016 .
  16. ↑ Six questions about the new Linz railway bridge. Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, September 2014, accessed on May 5, 2015 .
  17. ↑ The railroad bridge lock is not shaken. Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, December 2015, accessed on December 17, 2015 .
  18. ^ Railway bridge: Linzers decide on September 27th. OÖN, June 3, 2015, accessed on September 8, 2015 .
  19. ↑ Linz gets a new railway bridge. September 27, 2015, archived from the original on September 28, 2015 ; accessed on September 28, 2015 .
  20. ^ Railway bridge: The course for new construction has been set. City of Linz City Council, September 2015, accessed on September 30, 2015 .
  21. ↑ Incident during the dismantling of the railway bridge orf.at, August 13, 2016, accessed August 13, 2016. - Images: before and after.
  22. ^ Railway bridge demolition concept ( Memento from July 9, 2017 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on June 13, 2018
  23. ↑ New Danube Bridge Linz. City of Linz, accessed on December 15, 2019 .
  24. ↑ Linz Danube Bridge (photo). In: linz.at. Archived from the original on November 8, 2016 ; Retrieved April 23, 2017 .
  25. ↑ Construction of the new Danube bridge should start in June 2018 In: nachrichten.at . December 18, 2017, accessed June 13, 2018.
  26. ↑ New Danube Bridge Linz ( Memento from June 14, 2018 in the Internet Archive ). In: linz.at . May 15, 2018, accessed June 13, 2018.
  27. ↑ Construction of the new Danube bridge starts in June. In: ooe.orf.at . May 15, 2018, accessed June 13, 2018.
  28. ↑ Groundbreaking ceremony for new railway bridge. In: ooe.orf.at. July 4, 2018, accessed December 1, 2018 .
  29. ↑ Ground- breaking ceremony for the Danube bridge: an hour that never lets you forget everything. In: nachrichten.at . July 4, 2018, accessed February 10, 2019
  30. ↑ New Danube bridge not on schedule - it should also be significantly more expensive. In: nachrichten.at. August 28, 2019, accessed September 11, 2019 .
  31. ↑ Linz Danube Bridge is delayed by one year. In: ooe.orf.at . November 20, 2019. Retrieved November 20, 2019.

Remarks

  1. ↑ For traffic management after the bridge has been opened, see: The new Danube bridge in Linz (...). In:  Tages-Post , No. 261/1900 (XXXVI. Year), November 14, 1900, p. 4, center right. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / tpt.

Coordinates: 48 ° 19 ′ 1.2 ″  N , 14 ° 17 ′ 45 ″  E