In Znojmo, the repair of the tallest railway bridge in the region has begun

Znojmo - In Znojmo, the reconstruction of the highest railway bridge in the South Moravian Region has begun. Workers started extending the more than 200-meter long structure, which spans the Dyje River at a height of 49 meters, from the bridge pillars this week. In the first phase, a sixty-meter section was extended, which workers will dismantle for about two weeks. This process will then be repeated approximately five times, and the entire bridge will be extended within two months, said construction manager Antonín Sněťák today to ČTK.
    At the end of November, a new bridge will begin to be slid into place, which will last until April next year. The repair of the bridge is part of the modernization and electrification of the Znojmo - Šatov line, which will cost 1.2 billion crowns.
    Preparatory work for the removal of the old bridge began already in the summer. The stone pillars of the bridge had to be connected and strengthened first, otherwise they could collapse. To allow the bridge structure to be extended, it was also necessary to remove the old embankments at both ends of the bridge.
    The modernization of the Znojmo - Šatov line, which is part of the international route Znojmo - Retz - Vienna, began in June. Workers tore up the tracks from Znojmo to the border town of Šatov and prepared the foundations for the poles with electric traction. Electrification will enable the connection of Znojmo with Vienna by electric trains. Until now, people had to take a motor train to Šatov and then transfer to an electric train going to Austria.
    The long-planned closure will last more than a year. The actual installation of the bridge is expected by the Railway Infrastructure Administration in the middle of next year, while the modernization of the entire line is set to finish in November.
    The so-called Šatov Bridge was built at the end of the 1860s, with the first train crossing it on November 1, 1871. The original iron riveted structure, which was classified as a protected monument, was replaced in 1922 by a temporary bridge structure. After that, motor trains could only travel at a maximum speed of 30 kilometers per hour. The new bridge will allow trains to travel at speeds of up to eighty kilometers per hour.