On June 5th, 2010 an Open Day of Building was held. An event at which many construction sites opened their doors to the general public to show their progress and to interest people for construction and building. My son (18) is studying Civil Engineering and has a genuine attraction to railroad construction. That, combined with my general interest in railways, made these two boys set out for a days outing to the construction site of the new railroad bridge over the IJssel near Zwolle.
1 The Hanze line is a 50 km stretch of railway under construction that will connect the stub railway Amsterdam - Lelystad to the main hub of Zwolle, seriously shortening travelling time between Amsterdam and the north of the country as well as relieving pressure from the more than overloaded line between Zwolle and Utrecht.
The new railway crosses the IJssel river just before Zwolle (arrow)
2 An aerial photo I found on http://www.nu.nl/ shows the old railway bridge of the Utrecht-Zwolle connection, and the pillars of the new bridge just south of it. Note the high water levels flooding the winter bed and also note how the old bridge severely obstructs the flow of the river. The new bridge will be almost 1 km long and allows the IJssel to flow freely. Moreover the new bridge is built at standard Rhine height, allowing ships unobstructed passage under the bridge. The old bridge is an obstacle to both river and railroad traffic in turn.
3 Our first view on the bridge was from the western river bank (Hattem side). The middle section has been lifted into place early May. A film can be seen here. You can also watch a time lapse recording
4 The bridge center piece, which has been built separately and hoisted into place, can still be distinguished from the rest of the bridge.
5 My son Daniel
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7 View on the building site of the bridge's center piece. The steel abutments over which the bridge was rolled onto pontoons are still there.
8 View on the hoists still attached to the bridge
9 The uncovered bridge frame gives a nice graphic play
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11 Old and new side by. The old bridge, about 150 year will be demolished in 2011
12 Some piece of history. One more year and it will be gone for ever. During WW2 the bridge was destroyed twice, in 1940 by the retreating Dutch troops, in 1945 by the retreating Germans. Watch an impression of the reopening of the bridge in 1946
13 DDAR train set crossing the old bridge
14 Symmetry
15 We went to the building site open to the public on the Zwolle side
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17 A long ...
18 .....long....
19 .....very long ....
20 ...very very long .....
21 ...bridge
22 Zwolle Rangeer (Zwolle yard), used for storage of surplus stock. Here scores of Mat '64. Outdated and taken out of service, waiting for the cutter's torch.
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25 View straight into the spine of the bridge
26 An information stand of ProRail
27 Do not climb on the red beams
28 The concrete box that will contain a normal roadbed, producing far less noise than a traditional iron construction with the track directly attached to it.
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30 Screw thread XXL, forming the base of the catenary poles
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32 An old catenary portal, dating from around WW2
33 The old bridge. Note how narrow an opening the bridge leaves for the river to pass. The old bridge leaves a minimum clearance of only three meters, so needs to open frequently, obstructing free traffic of both ship and railroad. The new bridge leaves a minimum clearance of nine meters
34 Sorry, couldn't help photographing him again, I'm simply proud of him ;-)
35 And of the road. The bridge has not been completed so far as to safely allow a complete passage on foot.
36 I sure would have liked to walk on the bridge itself
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39 Despite the saturday, work was still going on.
40 Four sets of ICMm-III
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42 This curve was once the fright of every steam engine driver. Leaving Zwolle station they had as good as no distance to gain speed, take that sharp curve and than run up the steep incline onto the bridge. Imagine a dark rainy night, slippery rails, a heavy train behind you and needing every bit of power you can coax out of your engine, and you know these men were masters of their trade!!! A stall was no rare occasion here.
43 The weird bumbs on the roof are the driver's cabs. Originally the front contained two heavy doors which would open at coupling two sets, allowing passengers and crew to cross from one set to the other during the ride. These doors proved extremely prone to malfunction, often disrupting punctual departure. They definitely closed some years ago and when these railcars were refurbished, the doors were removed and replaced by a light weight sheet, saving a few tons of dead weight on the front truck
44 The bridge's drawing
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46 We made a walk around the grassland south of the bridge to get a view from the water
47 A reminder of the approaching summer
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50 Aaaaah, well worth the trouble
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52 On one side of the bridge a bike bridge is attached. A gap has yet to be closed. The bike bridge can also be used for emergency services...
53 ... lessons dearly learnt from the 2006 fire where a simple inconsequential fire turned into a blaze for no other reason then that the emergency service couldn't get to the train. Thankfully no one was hurt, but railroad traffic was severely disrupted.
