železniční most Děčín - Horní Žleb Railway bridge

The railway bridge Děčín - Upper Žleb, officially known as the railway bridge in km 458,755 of the line (Vienna NWB) - Cologne - Děčín East, is a steel lattice structure over the Elbe on track 073 between the stations Děčín East and Děčiná-Prostřež. This bridge is the lowest placed crossing the Elbe on the territory of the Czech Republic, which crosses the river at an angle of 45 °. During construction in 1873- 1874 he was the longest railway steel bridge on Czech territory and is still considered an important technical monument with a rich history associated with the water infrastructure of the town of Děčín.

The bridge was built by the Austrian Northwest Railway Company, the implementation of the Vienna company Gebrüder Klein a Schmoll & Gaetner. The concept of railway in the Lake Valley was designed by Konrad Wilhelm Hellwag, the construction director of the Austrian Northwest Railway. The original one-track construction from 1874 was placed on the lower part of the two-track construction on the left. The bridge also contained a water pipeline with drinking water from the sources in Horní Žleb and Čertov's water to Decin, which shows its multipurpose use.

The total length of the bridge is approximately 252 meters, divided into fields 25- 101- 101- 25 meters. The bridge has a pillar in the middle of the river and two pillars on the shore with the bridgeheads. Braces and pillars consist of carved blocks of fine grain sandstone from several quarry in the Elbe sandstone area, combined with hydraulic lime mortar from Austrian Kufstein. During the construction of the pillars, the deposits of 7-10 meters were overcome to stand on rocky ground.

In 1916 a new bridge structure was built on the right side, which copied the original design with higher load capacity. The original left structure was excluded from operation and after the water supply line of the town of Děčín in 1927 was subsequently demolished in 1927 and 1928. The bridge was never double-lined, so it remained single-track even after the construction of the second part. In the 1960s the line was electrified and the bridge was painted.

By 2022, the bridge was one of the last lattice bridges with preserved original structures on the main Czech railway lines. The current bridge was in a technically unsatisfactory state: many elements were damaged by corrosion, steel did not have sufficient resistance to the fragile refraction and contained CO bubbles. The life of the elements of the bridge has been exhausted by cyclical load. On structures 2 and 3 there was a minimum distance of 1789 mm which did not correspond to the required free width of at least 3000 mm in the station circuit. The speed was limited to 30 km / h and the reduction was considered to be 10 km / h.

Therefore, in the years 2022-2023 (the start of the lockout on 1 March 2022), its complete reconstruction was carried out, which included replacement of supporting structure and remediation of the lower structure. The total weight of more than 200 m long steel construction is approximately 1741 tonnes. The new construction is based in shape and size on the original steel structure. In the main openings there is a steel lattice with lower orthotropic bridge with continuous rail bed, in the outer fields coupled with ocelconcrete with upper reinforced concrete bridge. After repair, the speed increased to 50 km / h.

On 26 October 2016, the National Monument Institute proposed a declaration of the bridge as a cultural monument. Both the Magistrate and the Regional Authority agreed to the proposal, but the owner did not comment. The Ministry of Culture declared the bridge a cultural monument on 29 March 2018. The Railway Infrastructure Administration opposed the decision to decompose on 18 April 2018. The Minister of Culture returned the matter to the Ministry for a renegotiation. On 22 March 2019, the Ministry of Culture decided not to declare a bridge as a cultural monument, which gained legal power on 9 April 2019. This process shows a complicated relationship between the protection and operational needs of the railway infrastructure.

The bridge continues to serve as part of the main railway line connecting Vienna to Cologne and Decin, transporting both passenger and freight trains. Its location in Decin I-Decin ensures accessibility from both sides of the Elbe. Due to the reconstruction from 2022-2023, the bridge represents an up-to-date example of preserving the historical structure with a modern technical solution, where the new structure respects the original shape and dimensions.

Děčín - Horní Žleb bridge combines the historical railway technology of the 19th century with the current transport needs and represents evidence of development of construction in the valley. Its existence resembles the importance of the railway network for connecting Czech countries with Austria and the whole of Central Europe. Worth a visit to all who are interested in railway structures, technical history or want to observe a functional transport structure with a rich destiny.