Drive Unit for New Kattwyk Railway Bridge (Hamburg)

The new Kattwyk railway bridge spans the Süderelbe river between the Hamburg districts Moorburg and Wilhelmsburg. It is located at a distance of approx. 56 metres in parallel to the existing Kattwyk bridge. The existing Kattwyk bridge is used to route rail traffic, motor vehicle traffic as well as pedestrians and cyclists. Due to the high fatigue load by rail traffic, the lifetime of the old bridge is seriously limited. In order to relieve the old structure, a new bridge was planned. Like the old one, the new bridge is designed as a lift bridge and is to be used for routing double-track rail traffic.

Planning was performed by the engineering joint venture LSV, consisting of LAP (pylons and superstructures), Sellhorn (foundation), and Vössing (track apron). IRS acts as a subcontractor for this joint venture and has rendered the following services:

- Drive unit
- Power units including drive frames
- Guide system of the mobile lifting section
- Guide system of the counterweight
- Rope damper
- Downholder
- Crane system
- Lift system

The system is driven by an electro-magnetic friction unit. The bridge drive cables run over a winch installed in the pier head. The mass of the mobile superstructure is balanced by counterweights. This means the drive unit only manages the loads resulting from wind, snow or ice, cable imbalance, friction and drive efficiency. The drive is controlled by frequency converters. Skew monitoring is provided for.

The measuring and control technology was planned in cooperation with DriveCon GmbH as a subcontractor for IRS. 

Technical data:
- Span: 131 m
- Lifting height: 47.5 m
- Moved load: 4,000 t
- Number of cables: 48
- Cable diameter: 70 mm
- Travel time for opening or closing: 240 sec
- Max. drive capacity for entire bridge: 800 kW
- Winch diameter: 3000 mm

Structural planning
Project planning
Technical equipment

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