A new railway bridge that will form a key link in the Port of Rotterdam’s railway line and the new Theemswegtracé branch has been successfully installed.
The arch bridge was in place on 30 May and the new part of the railway spans over 4km in length. The first trains are expected to travel down the Theemswegtracé in late 2021.
The new arch bridge spanning the Thomassentunnel and the A15 and N15 motorways.
The first bridge along this route – spanning Rozenburgsesluis – was installed on 4 April 2020.
The Theemswegtracé is a €300 million ($335 million) solution to the problems associated with the Calandbrug near Rozenburg, according to the Port.
The steel vertical-lift bridge for rail and road traffic in the Port of Rotterdam area is the connecting link in the Betuwe Route to the European hinterland. For ocean shipping, the vertical-lift bridge forms the gateway to the Brittanniëhaven.
“The Theemswegtracé is in line with the Port Authority’s policy to increase the sustainability of Rotterdam’s connections with the hinterland and raise efficiency in rail, road and shipping traffic. In view of the forecast growth in rail freight transport and the increase in shipping movements from and to Brittanniëhaven, the Port Authority believes that rail transport could run into capacity problems. The construction of the Theemsweg Route resolves this bottleneck,” said Ronald Paul, COO of the Port of Rotterdam Authority.
SaVe is a construction consortium made up of BESIX, Dura Vermeer, Mobilis, Hollandia and Iemants and is constructing the substructure of the Theemsweg Route, a 4km stretch of concrete viaduct and two steel arched bridges, commissioned by the Port of Rotterdam Authority.
