Deutsche Bahn is making its railway lines fit for the future and is also renewing the existing infrastructure on the Ludwigshafen – Forbach section. The railway section to be upgraded is part of the international POS railway corridor connecting Paris and Eastern France to Southwest Germany.
The route is an important international east-west connection for rail-based passenger and freight transport. The upgrade of this railroad section is listed as a priority project of the Trans-European Networks (TEN). The double-track and electrified section runs through the German states of Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate.
Around 400 individual structures will be extensively renewed and modernized over a length of approx. 134 km. The focus of the upgrade is on the renewal of civil engineering structures such as bridges, culverts, retaining walls, slope stabilization measures and noise barriers. Railway stations and the superstructure are also being extensively refurbished. To ensure that the planning services can be provided in the shortest possible time, the route section was divided into 8 lots.
The BERNARD Gruppe was commissioned in a consortium for the design services in lot 2. Along the approx. 30 km long section from Saarbrücken to Homburg, the design services comprise 13 bridges, 4 railway stations, several slope stabilization measures, retaining walls and noise barriers. The service phases include preliminary design, final and permit application design, as well as tender design.
An essential component is the scheduling of the individual construction processes, which must ultimately be compatible with the construction site logistics of the total 134 km long upgrade section. This is because the entire modernization must be completed in just 5 months. To achieve this goal, a complete closure of the railway section is planned for 2029.
In this project, the BERNARD Gruppe impressed with its comprehensive engineering expertise and a committed, interdisciplinary team. Thanks to many years of experience in the planning of complex infrastructure projects, we are ideally prepared for the requirements of the upgrade. The project team is characterized by a high level of technical expertise as well as strong organizational and analytical skills, which will enable the challenging planning tasks to be implemented on schedule.
With its involvement, the BERNARD Gruppe is making an important contribution to the modernization of the rail infrastructure and the sustainable strengthening of rail transport in the international corridor.
Albert Außerlechner, BERNARD Gruppe
