No bridge too long

At more than a kilometre in length, a new railway bridge in Zurich is the longest in operation. The advanced technology enables the bridge to bear the weight of 800-tonne trains and help them up the steep incline to the bridge. (SRF/swissinfo.ch)

The bridge has been built as part of the new rail link allowing trains to pass through Zurich station without having to pull out the same way they entered. Putting the bridge through hardness tests has been the order of the day recently. If all goes well, it will soon lead trains above the other tracks to the nearby commune of Altstetten.

This is the kind of structure only built once every hundred years. Almost 1.2 km long, it’s also Switzerland’s longest railway bridge. In order to prevent these trains from slipping when it’s icy, the tracks on the steep parts are heated. 

Two years ago, cracks were found which would have caused the bridge to bend out of shape. A high-tech steel cable structure was installed to correct the problem. Now the project is back on track, and the first trains are crossing the bridge in December, reaching speeds up to 120 km per hour.