Unique arch bridge is being built over Orlík Dam

Orlík reservoir will be spanned by a new railway bridge in the coming months. Parts of the future reinforced concrete arch with a span of 156 metres are already starting to grow from the foundations on both banks of the Vltava. The construction site near the station Červená nad Vltavou was also visited today by Minister of Transport Martin Kupka and Director General of Správa železnic Jiří Svoboda as part of the inspection day. The total cost of the construction amounts to CZK 685 million and trains will start using the new bridge in November next year.

For crossing the Orlik Dam, a new reinforced concrete arch bridge was chosen in proximity to the existing one from 1889. The total length of the bridge will exceed 300 metres, the span of the bridge arch will be 156 metres.

“Near the Červená nad Vltavou station on the line from Tábor to Písek, an unmissable structure will be built, which, thanks to its dimensions, will rank among the largest arch bridge works in the Czech Republic. Its shape is related to two road bridges over the reservoir: the Žďákovský Bridge and the Podolský Bridge,” says Minister of Transport Martin Kupka.

Construction began last January with the building of the foundations. On the Tábor side, where they are embedded deep into the original rock wall, blasting of rocks was necessary. For this phase of construction, the lowered level of the Orlík was used in connection with the construction of a new spillway on the dam.

The builders have already constructed more than two-thirds of the future bridge arch. In the outermost parts, the actual load-bearing slab structure made of prestressed concrete has been completed.

For the construction, a concreting trolley is used, which always climbs on the already completed part of the arch. First, the section is reinforced and then concreted. The concreting trolley is then moved forward and the whole procedure is repeated.

At the end of this year, after the connection of the arch, the concrete trolleys will be dismantled and the construction of the bridge deck over the arch will be completed. At the same time, the builders will carry out the final landscaping on the bridge foreland and start working on the connection of the railway track to the new route.

Správa železnic is currently also dealing with the further fate of the existing bridge structure. “Already last August we concluded a future contract agreement on the gratuitous transfer of the old bridge to the association Viadukt, which is interested in its further use. We expect the start of railway operation on the new bridge next year in November, after which we expect the signing of the transfer contract itself,” explains Jiří Svoboda.

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