The new Sternbrücke in Hamburg went into operation on Monday. The first train to cross the bridge was the RE70 from Kiel, which passed over the new four-track railway bridge at around 4:15 a.m. Long-distance traffic followed shortly after with the ICE103 from Hamburg-Altona to Basel at 4:30 a.m., and the S-Bahn line S5 towards the main station at 4:35 a.m.
Janna Widmaier, project manager at Deutsche Bahn for the new Sternbrücke, expressed relief at the successful completion of the project. “Everything went according to plan,” she told NDR 90.3. The time pressure was a major challenge, but the team managed to overcome all obstacles.
The route between Hamburg-Altona and the main station is an international rail corridor, on which around 900 trains now run again every day. The new Sternbrücke weighs 3,700 tonnes and is considered a technical masterpiece. It is significantly larger than its predecessor, which continues to draw criticism from local residents.
Deutsche Bahn had extended the closure by two weeks due to problems with the overhead lines. Roads under the bridge will remain closed for the time being, including Stresemannstraße, which will not reopen until September 7. One reason for the delays was that 10,000 tonnes more soil had to be replaced than originally planned.
The old Sternbrücke dated from 1926 and was no longer viable due to its condition and the increased demands of modern rail traffic. The installation of the new bridge was the result of a spectacular transport operation at the end of July, during which the 108-metre-long bridge was moved around 500 metres from the construction site to the railway embankment.
Source: www.ndr.de
