The project, assigned by construction company TKP Krächan was completed in June this year. However, before construction of the new bridge could begin, the old one had to be dismantled as it was considered to be at risk of collapse and had been closed off to vehicles for quite a while.
Martin Mittler, director of resource planning at Steil Kranarbeiten and one of the those responsible for the project, said: “Since both the old and the new bridges cross over the Paris-Mannheim ICE train route, the overhead lines had to be disconnected from the grid before the lifts were carried out. We were asked to disrupt the Intercity-Express service as little as possible, this meant that we only had a time window of a few hours in both cases.”
The Steil team also faced challenging working conditions. The site was situated in the middle of a residential area, making it difficult both to get the Superlift 3800’s components, transported on 19 trucks, to the site and to set it up with a Terex AC 350/6 assist crane.
However Mittler pointed out that the Superlift 3800 operates on a modular quick-connect system, meaning it is easy to transport and set up. Once the crane was in place, the structure for the new bridge was delivered in two sections and welded on-site, resulting in a total weight of 70 tonnes, including the required slinging gear.