Kraków 2023-08-06
Railway bridge in Krakow.
Geographic coordinates: 50.050N 19.954E.
In this article, we continue the history of the railway bridge in Krakow over the Vistula River, between the districts of Grzegórzki and Zabłocie. According to the builders' plans, on June 11, 2023, a new, modern railway bridge was put into operation. At the same time, a new holiday timetable was introduced. On June 9, 2023, in the evening, representatives of state and local authorities came to the ceremonial opening of the bridge. There were representatives of the contractor Strabag. Already on May 18, 2023, in the presence of the Minister of Infrastructure, Mr. Andrzej Adamczyk, a technical drive and visit to the construction site of railway bridges over the Vistula River in Krakow took place. On that day, the third bridge was approved for railway traffic.
Three bridges were built as part of the modernization of the E30 railway line, on the Kraków Główny Towarowy - Rudzice section. Each of the three bridges is of different width, but they have a similar structure. They consist of three arched spans. The largest of them are 116 meters long and 18 meters high. Trains will be able to run on them at a speed of up to 100 km/h. The first bridge on the east side is a single track bridge. The middle second bridge is a two-track bridge, standard for long-distance trains. The third western bridge has only one track and a bicycle path, and additionally a pedestrian walkway has been attached to the side. The route for cyclists and pedestrians has greatly facilitated the access of residents to the city center and the Podgórze district. There are stairs for pedestrians and ramps for cyclists. Let us remember that the bridge can be used by people in wheelchairs, because the Zabłocie passenger stop is adapted for the disabled.
With the opening of the last of the three railway bridges, PLK SA launched new tracks on the Kraków Główny - Kraków Płaszów section. From June 11, 2023, trains use four tracks. Thanks to the investment, the speed on the tracks has increased to 100 km/h, and the modern train traffic control system improves safety. The total cost of the investment is approximately PLN 1.2 billion.
The new railway bridge over the Vistula River is the fifth one in this place. The decision to build it was made in 2015, when freemasonry in Poland was removed from the government. Previously, the bridge was a two-lane bridge, and now it is a four-lane bridge. Two tracks for the agglomeration line and two tracks for long-distance trains. There is no freight traffic on the cross-city line.
The total length of the bridge is 229 m. The northern spans from the side of Grzegórzki are 49.5 m long. The central spans are 116 m long. The southern spans are 63.5 m long. The height of the middle spans is 18 m. 5 m, and the other two about 14 m. The largest reinforced concrete slab is 1,200 cubic meters of concrete, and the pouring of concrete lasted continuously for 20 hours.
The contractor of the bridge was the Strabag company. Work started in 2017. It is not true that the works were planned to be completed by December 2021, because the scope of works has increased significantly. In April 2020, the municipality of Kraków concluded an agreement with PKP PLK on co-financing the investment of the third bridge, with a pedestrian and bicycle path, and allocated an additional PLN 70 million for this purpose.
The new bridge over the Vistula is an interesting and unique structure. The facility consists of reinforced concrete slabs suspended on diagonal hangers to arched steel structures. It is the first such railway structure in Poland. The spans were made in stages. In the first stage, four new bridgeheads were constructed. Then, reinforced concrete slabs were made on the prepared scaffolding, on which the tracks were placed. Then the steel arches were made. Steel arches were connected with diagonal hangers with reinforced concrete slabs. Four concrete pumps (pumping devices) fed the concrete to the largest slab at the same time for 20 hours.
The first bridge on the eastern side was put into operation on May 29, 2020. This bridge was subjected to load tests on a train composed of four ST44 (M62) locomotives. Each locomotive weighed 116.5 tons. The train made a series of runs at different speeds, during which engineers tested the parameters of the structure.
After the construction of the first new bridge, the demolition of the old bridge began. As the bridge spans were in good condition, they were transported to other bridge crossings and installed there. Five spans were transported to Zagórze in Podkarpacie for crossings over the San River. One span went to the reconstruction of the bridge in Słowików near Wieluń on the railway line No. 181 for 38.063 km.
On the second bridge, the assembly of tracks began on April 11, 2022. The second, middle, double-track bridge was put into use on June 11, 2022. On that day, railway traffic on the eastern track began. In this way, two tracks were already open across the Vistula. The remaining tracks were put into operation after the extension of the railway viaduct over Grzegórzecka Street was completed.
The third bridge, the western one-track bridge + pedestrian and bicycle walkway, was put into use on June 11, 2023. At the same time, the investment was completed. In June and July 2023, minor finishing works and removal of noticed defects were carried out. There is no doubt that the inhabitants of Krakow are very satisfied with the investment and benefit from it. Unfortunately, vandals have already started to destroy the building, spraying paints in the spray.
Written by Karol Placha Hetman