Drawing on decades of experience in bridge removal and installation, Sarens was pleased to develop a custom-designed engineering solution to help our client, JV Tralux-MBB, replace the Emile Hammerl bridge at the Bettembourg train station.

The operation promised to be challenging due to its time-sensitive, space-constrained nature. First, the crew only had a brief window in which to work, as the railway would be blocked during execution. Space was also a challenge: moving the largest bridge section would be a delicate operation due to the overhead railroad lines that would still be in place.

That would mean that Sarens would have to act quickly, decisively, and capably to pull it all off. But as always, our team was able to rise to the challenge, providing an ingenious engineering solution that was custom-designed for the task.

Sarens designed a special CS250 tilting system, created and used for the first time specifically for this project. Working within the confined space meant difficult driving manoeuvres and the crossing of overhead lines, but the tilting system would make it all possible.

To bring this engineered solution to life, Sarens deployed the following equipment:

• 12 CS250 towers
• 8 tilting cylinders
• 4 CS450 towers
• 4 CS1000 towers
• 20 axle lines K24ST SPMT
• 12 axle lines K24 SPMT

The equipment was delivered via a few dozen trucks from Belgium and took approximately two weeks to set up, with the team working in a limited space during offloading and assembly.

With everything finally in place, Sarens could remove two old bridge sections and transport them out via SPMT, crossing the overhead lines with the tilting system. SPMT transport was closely monitored throughout to avoid two SPMTs exerting different driving forces.

The two bridge sections were then transported and installed into place. The first section, C0-P1, was transported below the overhead lines and jacked to its final height. The second section, P1-P2, which weighed approximately 1.000 tonnes and measured 80 metres long, crossed the overhead lines with the tilting system. This required careful coordination among all crew members, as it was the first time this particular tilting solution had ever been used!

The last segment of the bridge, weighing 340 tons, has been placed with SPMTs and 8 jacking towers CS250 in February. This marks one of the final steps in the construction of the new Bettembourg train station bridge, which is expected to reopen for traffic in early April, following a year of extensive work.

Sarens capably and confidently completed this project, with five crew members per shift making it all possible. We would like to congratulate everybody on an exceptionally well-designed engineering solution, and on a job well done.