A Special Kind of Mast Foundations
An unusual mast foundation for a catenary was performed by SPITZKE SE’s Leer branch. A height difference of nearly ten meters was only one of the challenges they needed to overcome for the construction project in the Rostock area.
Even the location made the renewal and technical upgrading of the railway line so unusual. This was due to the fact that the new catenary poles had to be set up from a railway bridge which runs over a motorway. The distance between the foundation site and the upper edge of the rails was exactly nine meters and 30 centimeters.
There was no alternative to the mast foundation from this height. Firstly, the road and the guardrail could not be touched and, furthermore, access via the adjacent private property could not be provided. However, this did not stop the foundation of the catenary mast. SPITZKE’s mast foundation specialists solved the problem in Leer, and “developed a pile-driving hood extension especially for this one location,” explained the project manager.
Important construction project for freight transport
The construction project is located on the main route for freight traffic from the Rostock harbor to Berlin and southern Germany. SPITZKE’s team is renewing and modernizing the railway infrastructure for the section between the Kavelstorf district and the Hanseatic city. More than 100 old concrete masts were removed and new masts were founded for this purpose. In September, the updated line is to be opened to freight transport once again – with an increase in speed from 80 km/h to 120 km/h. An additional advantage of this technical upgrade and the new electrification by SPITZKE’s equipment/electrical engineering specialists is that the freight railways can transport a higher axle load.
