Gustav Seeland Helps Modernize Hamburg’s Suburban Rail Network

Heavy Lifting for the Construction of the New Bille Bridge

Hamburg – 27.02.2020 – Gustav Seeland has been given a further opportunity to prove its mettle on a major modernization project for Hamburg’s S-Bahn suburban railway system. The Hamburg-based heavy-goods specialist will be playing a key role in replacing the railroad bridge across the river Bille on Bullerdeich. The steel structure—which is more than 100 years old and is located between the suburban railway stations of Rothenburgsort and Billwerder-Moorfleet—must be demolished and rebuilt within a very short space of time. In order to minimize disruption for passengers on the S2 and S21 lines, the renovation project will be completed in a mere two weeks, with Gustav Seeland planning three days just for demolishing the bridge.

First and foremost, the expertise of Gustav Seeland is required for the demolition and removal of the old bridge. The heavy-goods carrier has been planning this major project for months, with the task in hand posing considerable challenges for the specialist firm. The demolition of the bridge will be handled both from land and water.

In order to ensure rapid demolition, the bridge—which was built in 1902—will first be split into three sections. These three elements will be lifted from the water onto floating pontoons by a crane before being removed. The key difficulty, however, lies in the demolition and removal of the bridge’s central section. A 500-metric ton crane, firmly attached to a pontoon, will need to lift and deposit the bridge section, which weighs 40 metric tons. Hydraulic supporting pillars will be used to secure the load and bolster the pontoon, thus stopping the floating crane pontoon from rocking and capsizing under the weight of the load. Once the sections of the old bridge have been deposited onto the floating pontoons, they will be towed to the Port of Hamburg, where they will be scrapped. For this large-scale project, Gustav Seeland intends to deploy two special cranes—each with a load-bearing capacity of some 220 metric tons—and a 60-metric ton brake car with a tractive force of 80 metric tons. The lifting mast of the 500-metric ton crane will be assembled on the crane pontoon from dry land. Gustav Seeland will be assigning twelve heavy-goods and assembly specialists, with the requisite expertise, to handle the project.

“Planning and executing such a huge project requires maximum precision. Even for the specialists at Gustav Seeland, this is not an easy task. Given the narrow time frame, the heavy load, and the water-based assembly, there is a lot to consider. In particular, sufficient attention has to be paid to safety when dealing with such a complex challenge,” explains Johann Evers, CEO of Gustav Seeland GmbH.

The bridge will be demolished between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. on March 1 and 2, as well as in the night of March 2 and 3, 2020. We recommend that media representatives attend from 10 a.m. onwards on March 1. As things stand, the process of lifting and depositing the central bridge element is scheduled for this time.

About Gustav Seeland:
In its capacity as one of Germany’s largest providers of heavy goods logistics services, Gustav Seeland can offer the perfect solution for every task. The Hamburg-based company’s service spectrum encompasses the entire range of truck-mounted cranes, heavy haulage and specialized transport, industrial installations, and warehousing for heavy cargo. As a partner and founding member of BigMove AG, Gustav Seeland has a pan-European network at its disposal and has been certified in accordance with DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 and SCCP:2011.

Press contact:
Gustav Seeland GmbH
Press office
Catrin Bedi
Werner-Siemens-Straße 29
22113 Hamburg, Germany
Phone: +49 40 271 670 80
E-mail: news@seeland-hamburg.de

Photographer: Timo Sommer
Photo imprint free, copyright Gustav Seeland GmbH