The projects we implement in Europe – particularly in Germany, Scandinavia, Luxembourg and Switzerland – are as diverse as the people working at SPITZKE. We build and revitalize long-distance, regional and local railroad tracks, we electrify, modernize stations and propel complex infrastructure projects. In spite of our diversity, our construction projects are united by one thing in particular: Us – 2,300 employees – always working hand in hand to make the railway infrastructure in Germany and Europe fit for the future.
Are you curious and would like to know more? Here, you’ll find a selection of our major projects. If you want to follow along with our current construction projects, it’s also worth having a look at our news.
The work began on the S-Bahn line 1 in February, 2022. The S1 connects thousands of Brandenburg commuters with Berlin. The new interlocking ESTW S1 north will be built here by the middle of 2024 prospectively. SPITZKE is implementing everything necessary for the subsequent commissioning of the ESTW from a single source: Our civil engineers, track, mast foundations and overhead lines specialists are all participating. You can read all the information about this important major project in our news or project ticker.
After the devastating floods in July 2021, the damaged railway infrastructure is being restored. The first rail line was rebuilt just months after the floods in Rhineland-Palatinate. The section between Trier and Auw on the Kyll was completed in December, 2021. The second section to St. Thomas was completed by the SPITZKE track team in April, 2022. A special feature of the reconstruction of the Eifel route for rail traffic was the extremely brief planning period.
SPITZKE fully restored the 40 km long Göttingen-Kassel section of the SFS 1733 high-speed line in a consortium with DB Bahnbau Gruppe GmbH from April 23rd to July 16th, 2021. This also completed the second stage of the revitalization of the 327 km line between Hannover und Würzburg. The consortium partners only had an 84-day blocking period available (52 days for the track superstructure). SPITZKE was onsite with nearly its complete range of expertise. In September, the load-tamping operations were also successfully carried out and the section is back to regular operation. You can find more information in our project ticker.
Deutsche Bahn wants to ensure shorter travel times to the Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) and in the direction of Dresden with the extension of the Dresdner Bahn between Berlin Suedkreuz and the state border in Lichtenrade. In order to make this a reality, SPITZKE has been working together with JOHANN BUNTE Bauunternehmung GmbH & Co. KG as well as Hentschke Bau GmbH since October 2020. Approximately 5,500 driven-pile foundations and 25,500 meters of sound barriers will be installed, 30,000 meters of track will be renewed, and 21,400 meters of overhead lines will be erected. Completion is scheduled for December 2025. You can find more information in our project ticker.
Since June 2020, SPITZKE has been implementing the overhead contact line systems for the new rail line Wendlingen-Ulm in the greater Stuttgart area within a consortium. The design of the line will enable operating speeds of up to 250 km/h. The demands on the overhead contact line are high, requiring special solutions and unconditional precision within only small tolerances to a considerable extent. A total of 305 drill foundations for mast and anchor are being installed for the new line and 56. 1 m/km of chain works are being pulled through SPITZKE.
By end of January 2019, SPITZKE received the order to completely overhaul the Berlin-Schöneweide train station. Under the leadership of the Large-Scale Projects / Structural Engineering division, three platforms and the pedestrian underpass will be renewed and a new tram underpass will be built in three construction phases up to December 2022. The entire work will be done during constant long-distance railway and suburban railway operation. In May 2020, the first of three stages of the project and the second in May 2022 was completed on time.
SPITZKE is regularly involved in maintaining mobility in the Hanseatic city and has already successfully implemented numerous construction projects in the suburban railway route network of Hamburg. SPITZKE is currently building the new train formation facilities in Eidelstedt and Stellingen with four or six tracks and a four-track maintenance facility with a three-track pre-routing group. The main work could already be completed in 2020. Remaining work will follow in 2021. A total of 6 km of conductor rail systems, 15 km of feeder cables and 5 km of return cable were installed for this project.
From August 2018 to Autumn 2021, the employees of our Equipment/Electrical Engineering division electrifed the “Südbahn” in several lots. On the oldest railway line in Baden-Wuerttemberg, more than 2,000 masts are built by our foundation experts, most of them from SPITZKE’s own production subsidiary SPITZKE FAHRWEGSYSTEME GmbH. In December 2022, this major project was completed extremely successfully and on schedule. The first electrified trains will commence regular service after the timetable change. Read all about the electrification of the Suedbahn in our project ticker.
The high-speed rail line 4080 between Mannheim and Stuttgart was opened on May 31, 1991. Today around 24 million passengers p. a. use this connection with the long-distance trains operated by Deutsche Bahn AG. From April to October 2020, the railway infrastructure company SPITZKE revitalized the 99 km long railway track under complete closure. The experts from our areas of expertise track, technology, logistics and equipment/electrical engineering were on duty. On October 31, the high-speed rail line was put back into operation on schedule.
On behalf of the energy network operator Tennet TSO, SPITZKE built the foundations for 60 of the 130 masts in the third construction phase of the new 380 kV route between Heide / West and Husum from November 2018 to July 2020. As soon as the west coast line is in operation, it will direct the wind power generated on the coast to the south of Germany. To carry out the work, we relied on our founding experts for overhead lines located in our branch Leer.
At the end of June 2020, SPITZKE was on duty on the Drammenbanen in Norway. On the rail line between Asker and Brakerøya, 29 km of ballast cleaning and track renewal with track and sleeper changes had to be implemented. The work was carried out in record time and was completed on August 3rd, one week ahead of schedule. According to the client Bane NOR, never has a route been renewed so quickly. In addition, a rail line within a tunnel (the Lierasen tunnel) was renewed by using the conveyor belt method for the first time in Norway.
Since 2011 SPITZKE SE, as lead partner of ARGE Berlin-Ostkreuz VP 11, has contributed to the conversion of the busiest interchange in Berlin’s public transport network. The project covered the entire range of service of the railway infrastructure, from track, equipment/electrical engineering, buried cabling works and structural engineering to the construction of a new railway platform. In December 2018, the project has been completed.
On the Höllentalbahn, Germany’s steepest main line (a gradient of more than 57 per thousand), our track experts renewed tracks, points, sleepers and foundation and placed new geosynthetics and FPL in April and May 2018. The work on the single-track steep section required special approvals and safety precautions for all machines and equipment used on the steep section as well as specially trained personnel.
SPITZKE SE Danmark realized two projects in cooperation with the ARGE partner Aarsleff Rail A / S in the greater Copenhagen area. In the summer of 2017, our specialists renewed the Kystbanen tracks and the S-Bahn line between Valby and Svanemøllen in Denmark. The specialists on site were supported by SPITZKE track-laying machinery, welding, surveying and alignment, and logistics.