German Unity Transport Project 8

Schmidtstedterstraße/Flutgraben railway bridge

Initial status

The Schmidtstedter bridge and Flutgraben I bridge (east) outwardly appear to be a continuous structure at 108.070 kilometres on the existing Halle (South) to Guntershausen line (line 6340). The existing bridge is subdivided into a northern section and a southern section. The northern section was built in 1846 as a bridge with three vaulted arches. The vaulted arches, supports and abutments are brick built. The southern section was built as an extension in 1976 in the course of the construction of the Schmidtstedter railway bridge node. The existing structure has three openings. The eastern opening is for a separate lane for drivers turning off to the right onto the city's inner ring road. The central and western openings are for the Flutgraben flood channel. All of the substructures have shallow foundations.

Planned status

The basic structure of the arched bridge has been retained unchanged. A reinforced concrete load spreader has been laid to ensure its load-bearing capacity.
This part of the engineering work was completed in 2008, during the phased reconstruction of the passenger station.
The existing status meant that the requisite cross-sectional width for the newly-laid through tracks (specifically new platforms 9 and 10) was not available throughout. As the existing structure in the vicinity of the Schmidtstedter junction/Flutgrabenbrücke I (East) railway bridges at km 108.000/108.070 did not provide sufficient width on the bridges, they both had to be widened on the southern side and an adjacent retaining wall built.

Status before reconstruction (Photo: DB AG)

Schmidtstedter Junction railway bridge at km 108.000

The existing railway bridge has been retained almost unchanged. Only the southern edge capping was demolished as part of the planned building project. It was replaced by new edge capping. A noise barrier was erected on the edge capping, replacing the previous guard rail. The future geometry of track 10 rendered widening of the existing cross-section of the western bridge bay necessary. A (prefabricated) reinforced concrete edge beam was extended for this purpose on the south side of the bridge. The existing southern pilaster strip on the upper central pier had to be demolished and a new bridge pier cap constructed to support the edge beam. The western support was created by constructing a new abutment (a southern extension of the western abutment).

Flutgrabenbrücke I (East) railway bridge at km 108.070

The 1976 extensions, including the former compressor chamber, were demolished as far as the southern end wall of the arched bridge. The formation was demolished as far as subsequent reconstruction demanded. The superstructure had to be demolished completely. Following demolition, a new railway bridge more than twice as wide was erected in almost the same position as its predecessor. The new bridge consists of two parallel half-frames and two decks, also arranged in parallel. The framework was constructed using a composite steel superstructure with evenly-curved bottom chords and solid reinforced concrete portal legs. The eastern portal legs also form the western support of the deck, which is formed of sectional girders in concrete. A reinforced concrete abutment forms the eastern support. The portal legs are on piles and the eastern deck abutment is on shallow foundations.

Adjacent retaining wall

The existing retaining wall adjacent to the western abutment of the Flutgrabenbrücke I (East) railway bridge was demolished to the extent demanded by subsequent reconstruction. A new retaining wall adjacent to the newly-built western abutment of the Flutgrabenbrücke I (East) railway bridge also had to be provided. It was constructed as a reinforced concrete angular retaining wall, on shallow foundations where its height was low. Elsewhere it rests on piles. The retaining wall is topped by reinforced concrete edge capping, again bearing a noise barrier. Construction took place from August 2009 to November 2011.

Platforms 9 and 10 were commissioned when the timetable changed in May 2012.

After reconstruction (Photo: DB AG)

Aerial view looking south (Photo: DB AG)