Wayss & Freytag Ingenieurbau, Central Division, has been awarded the contract by Landesbetrieb Straßen.NRW, Mönchengladbach Regional Office, to construct the Meerbusch-Osterath trough structure.
To remove two existing at-grade level crossings on the busy Krefeld–Düsseldorf railway line, the civil engineers and specialist civil engineering contractors from the Central Division are constructing four trough structures, retaining walls, footbridges and other civil engineering structures. These include a surface water pumping station, an underground rainwater retention basin and a storage sewer beneath Ladestraße.
The trough structures will lead into a roundabout – also to be constructed – beneath the railway line. The railway overpass was completed in advance by DB. The works are being carried out in several construction phases whilst maintaining inner-city traffic and railway operations.
The scope of the contract includes various specialist civil engineering works such as bored pile walls (diameter 62 to 150 cm), beam pile and sheet pile walls, micropiles and grouted anchors. In addition, underwater concrete bases up to 2.5 metres thick will be constructed. The walls of the trough structure and the retaining walls will be constructed using exposed concrete (SB3). The scope of works also includes all earthworks, sewerage works and roadworks.
As the new roundabout is situated in a groundwater area, complex works are required. A solid underwater concrete base will be cast to provide protection against groundwater. Overlapping bored pile walls, driven into the ground over a total length of around 500 metres along the four approach roads to the roundabout, will serve as the structural framework.
The new traffic layout will ensure that the railway line can be crossed underground in future without any level crossings and independently of rail traffic.
