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Intersection Stadtbahn/Hauptbahnhof Duisburg

The urban railway station at Duisburg main station is of paramount importance on account of the good connections for changing to buses and the trains of the German Railways (DB). Initial work started in 1975. This also marked the turning of the first clod for the urban railway in downtown Duisburg. Private motorists were excluded from the Mülheimer Straße in the vicinity of the German Railways' underpass so that the site could be opened up.

Construction phase 1: The central supporting columns of the steel construction of the DB bridge were temporarily replaced by two ancillary rows of supports at the centre of the bridge. Subsequently, a permanent row of columns made of profile steel in bentonite-supported boreholes was created between the ancillary supports and the foundations set below the subsequent base of the urban railway tunnel in bed rock of the carbonic period. These supports are located within the subsequent concrete structural supports.

Construction phase 2: after completion of the permanent columns, a continuous reinforced concrete central beam was installed at 0-level and a new central row of columns for the DB bridge built. Subsequently, the DB bridge abutments were secured via grouted bolts. The soil beneath the foot of the abutment was compacted by chemical means. Curtain walls made of reinforced concrete, which extended down into the watertight subsurface, were then created in stages using a grab modified to operate in the confined working height. The first half of the final tunnel ceiling at level 0 was then completed.

Construction phase 3: the ceiling and the suspended intermediate ceiling at level-1 fortify the curtain walls in the upper section. As more underground excavations took place, five rows of grouted bolts are put in place in order to contain the lateral earth and water pressure.

Construction phase 4: following the removal of the soil and the installation of a bituminous seal, the tunnel could then be completed progressively from bottom to top. Owing to the fact that the DB points units were extremely sensitive with respect to settlements, an increased number of settlement measurements were taken throughout the entire period of construction. Any Settlements that occurred could thus be compensated for through repacking immediately after they were discovered.

  • Country: Germany
  • Region: Nordrhein-Westfalen
  • Tunnel utilization: Traffic
  • Type of utilization: Underground, urban and rapid transit
  • Client: Stadt Duisburg, Stadtbahnbauamt
  • Main construction method: Open
  • Type of excavation: Cut-and-cover
  • No. of tubes: 1
  • Tunnel total length: 360 m
  • Contract Volume: 146 mill. DM
  • Construction start/end: 1975-81
  • Opening: 1991