Rendsburg High Bridge

54.2934839.6826330Koordinaten: 54 ° 17 ' 36.5 "N, 9 ° 40' 57.5 " E

Railway Neumünster -Flensburg

North Sea-Baltic Canal, Wehrau, federal highway 202

The Rendsburg High Bridge is a city built between 1911 and 1913 steel construction in Rendsburg (Schleswig -Holstein). It spans the North Sea-Baltic Canal and serves as a railway bridge also carries an attached transporter bridge for pedestrian and vehicular traffic. It is the town's landmark Rendsburg and one of the important industrial monuments in Germany. On September 22, 2013, it was awarded by the Federal Chamber of Engineers as a Historic Landmark of civil engineering in Germany. Just below the bridge there is the ship welcoming station Rendsburg. The bridge was 99 years long, the longest railway bridge in Germany.

History

History and Planning

Originally (then Kaiser- Wilhelm-Kanal ) spanned by swing bridges of the Kiel Canal. Following the expansion of the canal from 1907 these were mostly replaced by high bridges.

When the first plans for the construction of a railway bridge in Rendsburg were known to the citizenry reacted rather skeptical. They feared " immense steel scaffolding " and a " monster " that disturb the cityscape. The Municipality of the City informed the Ministry of the Interior that they could " not be regarded as an advantage for the city," the high bridge. Similarly, the planned increase in the cost of passenger and freight rates came due to the loop at the end burgers and Buedelsdorfer business world due to the feared loss of revenue to criticism.

Ultimately, drew the rail and canal construction management in many points and took the additional costs of the project. Instead of a planned railway embankment agreed on a viaduct for bringing the railroad to the high bridge. Compromises have been made also in the rates by a staggering has been proposed in which engages a price increase only at a distance of over 100 kilometers.

As reported in " Rendsburger weekly paper " on May 28, 1911 in Dortmund bridge - CH Institute Jucho and Gutehoffnungshütte had been envisaged. They already had experience in the construction of the viaduct in Holtenau.

Since one kilometer from the channel of the Rendsburg railway station is only just the railway administration was faced with a costly and technically difficult challenge. North of the canal was laid from the station to Obereider pool the roadbed by 4.5 meters higher and set up an elliptical loop dam. To the south of the canal of Osterronfeld station and railway lines were laid to Neumünster and Kiel.

Construction of the bridge

Was Creates the bridge of about 350 workers, the lead was the engineer Friedrich Voss held. Put together, 17,740 tons of steel were 3.2 million " from the best -hearth iron produced " rivets.

Were initially created on both sides of the channel, the ramps as earth dam and steel viaduct construction. This was followed by the construction of the main bridge in cantilever mounting.

The construction cost 13.4 million gold marks. Seven workers died during assembly.

Operation of the bridge

The opening of the bridge took place on 1 October 1913.

In order to defend the high bridge from possible enemy attacks during the Second World War, the German army occupied it with soldiers and installed on the Südpylon anti-aircraft guns and searchlights a pylon on the north.

The railway line was electrified in 1995, for static reasons only the eastern railway was electrified, taken the western inoperative. Meanwhile, calculations have shown that a two-way operation safely possible.

Since 1993, this steel building a basic repair and reinforcement is subjected. Here, the reinforcement steel serving pieces are inserted, the corrosion protection completely renewed. The high bridge and two approach bridges should be as for the single-track line category D4 ( 22.5 t axle load and linear load 8,0 t ) and the distance class D2 double track ( 22.5 t axle load and linear load 6.4 t ) be interpreted. The rivets are replaced by screw. The foundations of the entire bridge to be strengthened. Thus, the high bridge can be driven on the major rail line Germany, Scandinavia and heavier freight trains. During the entire construction period stands on the bridge, only one track for rail traffic. If such work is completed in 2015, the bridge is two-pronged traffic again. The renovation is estimated at around 170 million euros.

Construction

The Rendsburg High Bridge measures together with their two ramps 7.5 km. The actual steel bridge structure has a length of 2,486 meters, the main bridge spans with a total length of 317 meters, the channel with a clear height of 42 meters and a span of 140 meters. The ramps have tight curves. Located immediately behind the northern ramp of the station of Rendsburg. Initial plan was to use the Western Railway as a military road. The access ramps to the ends of the steel bridge in existence today.

The rails of the two main lines on the bridge are continuously welded. The track distance is 3.5 meters. Made from oak wood bridge beams are connected to the bridge via a welded centering. The acceleration and braking loads are transferred through the pylons in the foundations.

The bridge structure is maintained by the Water and Shipping Authority Holtenau. The superstructure is part of DB Netz.

Rail traffic

The bridge is part of the railway line Neumünster - Flensburg- Fredericia and thus an important rail-bound traffic route to Scandinavia on the Jutland line.

The crossing height over the channel is too high to be reached directly from the Rendsburg railway station. The station was built in the time before the construction of the canal and now stands at 600 meters in a straight line too close to the channel. In order not to impede the freight train operation, the average slope was limited to around 12 per thousand. Thus the necessary ramp lengthened to 4.5 kilometers. To get to the bridge level, the path turns a " victory lap " around the district called loop enclosed by it. Only after this turning point, a crossing of the channel (or from the bridge, the entrance to the train station ) is possible. The flyovers are a total of 51 rectangular frame piers. This technical trick that is common in mountainous terrain ( see, eg, circular sweeping viaduct Brusio - Bernina Railway, Switzerland ) was first applied to this bridge construction in the plane. On the southern side of the channel located on channel level Osterronfeld station was shut down and built a new station at the southern end of the bridge to bridge level.

Transporter Bridge

The Transporter Bridge connects the community Osterronfeld with the city of Rendsburg and transported per trip for up to four vehicles, or about 60 pedestrians. It requires less than two minutes for a crossing. Since its opening on December 2, 1913, the same timetable applies: of 5 clock in the morning to 23 clock at night (in winter only to 22 clock ) is run every fifteen minutes. As the ship traffic on the channel takes precedence, it can be unscheduled waiting times.

The Fährbühne (also called the gondola ) is 14 m long, 6 m wide and has a weight of 45 tons. It is suspended by ropes from a twelve steel structure comprising the bottom flange of the U-shaped bridge, and with a total of eight wheels on two right and left rails of the bridge girder running. The drive is electrically with four motors driving each second wheel.

She is one of only eight transporter bridges worldwide.

Viewing platform

On both sides of the middle section are two bridge houses were located. The south was in 1981, the northern in 1989 removed due to disrepair. Instead of the southern cottage a viewing platform was built, which is reached by a spiral staircase and can be climbed on weekends with guide.