Rendsburg High Bridge

The Kiel Canal (formerly the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal ), which was built from 1887 to 1895, broke existing transport routes, including the railway line between Flensburg and Neumuenster, on which two parallel swing bridges were built. In 1907, it was decided to expand the canal and during this expansion the main obstacles were also removed. ^[one]

The main railway lines had the right to pass over the ships on the canal and the ships had to stop, losing about half an hour, waiting for the train to pass. This was considered the main obstacle, since the ships were able to overtake and disperse with each other not along the entire length of the channel, but only in specialized extended areas, so traffic on the entire channel was difficult.

In order to allow vessels to pass under the canal, the new bridge had to have a height of 42 meters above the water. Existing lines crossed the canal about 7 meters above water level, so the paths had to be raised by about 36.5 meters, including an additional 1.5 meters, to accommodate the thickness of the lower truss. The required maximum slope of 1: 150 (one meter per distance of 150 meters) made it necessary to build elevated embankments and open bridges about 5.5 km on each side. ^[one]

The bridge was built between 1911 and 1913 according to the design of Friedrich Voss (1872-1953) and replaced the earlier drawbridges. ^[2]

The steel viaduct has a length of 2486 meters and is supplemented by embankments that increase the total length of the structure to 7.5 kilometers. The console of the main bridge is 317 meters in length, has a main span of 140 meters and 42 meters above the water level in the channel. ^[2]

To provide access to Rendsburg Station , located at ground level just a few hundred meters from the main bridge, the railway line goes through a large 360-degree loop on the north bank of the canal ( Rendsburg loop ). ^[2]

The total cost of construction, including the movement of railway lines, but excluding the work associated with the lifting of the Rendsburg station, amounted to 13.4 million marks . This figure includes 5.7 million marks for bridges, 2.7 million marks for embankments and 1.3 million marks for underpasses and road moving. ^[one]

Schwebefähre ( outboard ferry ) runs every 15 minutes daily, from early morning until late at night. It travels a distance of 125 meters in 1.5 minutes and provides the shortest connections between the municipality of Osterrenfeld and the city of Rendsburg. Since this method of transportation is especially convenient for students on their way to school, major repairs that require the suspension of the ferry are coordinated with school holidays. ^[3]

The flying ferry platform is fourteen meters long, six meters wide, and is six meters above the water level in the canal. In recent years, the nominal throughput has been reduced from six to four cars in order to take into account the increase in the size of cars and their weight. When the gondola is equipped with navigation equipment such as radio, radar and liferafts, there are no prerequisites for the operator to hold master licenses for inland navigation. ^[3]

During a storm in January 1993, an unmanned and unlit platform disrupted at night, it fell and collided with a ship. Fortunately, both the ship and the platform suffered only minor damage. ^[3]

On January 8, 2016, the platform collided with the dry cargo vessel Evert Prahm . The bridge was badly damaged. ^[4] It will be dismantled and relocated to the shipyard to assess damage and repair, which is estimated to take several months. ^[5]

• Rendsburg loop
• Kiel Canal

•   Play media file

  Video work of a flying ferry

•  

  Flying ferry under bridge span

•  

  Bridge in 1913 before opening