Ground-breaking ceremony for the replacement railway bridge over Weiherfeldstraße in Karlsruhe
With the ground-breaking ceremony performed on 27th September 2013 by the mayor of Karlsruhe responsible for construction Michael Obert, head of department at the Karlsruhe municipal civil engineering authority Dietmar Schaber, head of production processes at DB Netze AG Karsten Erhardt, project leader at DB Projektbau GmbH Fadil Gündüz and managing director of B+H Bau GmbH Frank Müller , construction work officially began on the replacement of the railway bridge over Weiherfeldstraße in Karlsruhe.
With the ground-breaking ceremony performed on 27th September 2013 by the mayor of Karlsruhe responsible for construction Michael Obert, head of department at the Karlsruhe municipal civil engineering authority Dietmar Schaber, head of production processes at DB Netze AG Karsten Erhardt, project leader at DB Projektbau GmbH Fadil Gündüz and managing director of B+H Bau GmbH Frank Müller , construction work officially began on the replacement of the railway bridge over Weiherfeldstraße in Karlsruhe.
The existing railway bridge is made of riveted steel and was erected in 1908 immediately south of the main station in Karlsruhe. Eight sets of tracks cross Weiherfeldstraße and the River Alb via the bridge: the Rheintal line, the line into the Palatinate and the city railway connections towards Rastatt and Wörth. Ca. 560 trains pass over the structure each day.
Because of its age-related condition, replacement of the structure is necessary – the steel beams in the superstructure are severely corroded and the abutments and columns are in poor condition.
The structure consists of four three-bay superstructures with spans ranging from 8,4 m to 11,0 m and has a total width of 60 m.
Due to the position of the bridge immediately adjacent to the main station in Karlsruhe, the replacement process can only take place in stages so that as few train connections as possible are directly affected by the construction work. In addition to railway operation aspects, nature conservation laws must also be considered since the bridge crosses the River Alb in an area where is a wide variety of flora and fauna; the provisions of the federal nature conservation laws must be observed.
After consideration of several possible construction methods, the superstructures were gradually dismantled and replaced with half-frames which were pushed into position under the protection of the existing natural stone abutments. The replacement of the railway bridge should be completed by the end of 2014 and the overall project should be completed in 2015. According to information from DB, an investment volume of ca. 17,2 million Euros is planned for the replacement of the structure.
KREBS+KIEFER was responsible for the design and execution planning and for planning coordination.
