When asked, Deutsche Bahn announced that the renovation of the railway line between Würzburg-Zell and Gemünden is on schedule and will currently be completed by the end of the year. If everything continues to go as planned, trains will run again as scheduled from December 10th.
The renovation is done in sections – and not necessarily in sequence. In the first three weeks of construction work, the track between Veitshöchheim and Würzburg-Zell and the track between Retzbach and Thüngersheim were renewed. The track from Karlstadt to Retzbach followed from October 3rd to 11th, then the track at Veitshöchheim station until October 20th and the switches at the Würzburg-Zell, Retzbach and Karlstadt stations from October 27th to November 6th.
The workload for the renovation of the railway track “jumps”
Two sections are always worked on in parallel, with a distance of at least two stations between them, so that a higher throughput of running trains is achieved. This is the reason why you cannot work one track at a time or from south to north, but rather the sections “jump”.
The track between Zell and Veitshöchheim is currently being renewed by November 20th and that between Thüngersheim and Retzbach by November 24th. The track from Retzbach to Karlstadt will then be renovated from November 24th to December 5th.
Near Gambach: transfer point for changing lanes
A transfer point was built near Gambach. That was the reason for the route being completely closed from October 27th to November 6th. This refers to points on the open route where trains can change to another track on the same route. This increases flexibility in train traffic. At the same time, additional work was carried out elsewhere on this occasion, for example the renewal of switches and rails at Retzbach, Karlstadt and Zell.
The switches are pre-assembled in parts on site. In Karlstadt, for example, this happened on the tracks in front of the cement plant. The old switches were separated into parts and removed using a rail crane. The gravel was then dug up using a two-way excavator and loaded onto tractor trailers, which took the gravel to the logistics areas. A rail crane inserted the pre-assembled switch parts.
Renewal of the route was planned for the long term
There is a rumor that the rails will be replaced primarily in curves – as a consequence of the train accident near Garmisch-Partenkirchen in June 2022, in which rail supports broke away from the prestressed concrete sleepers. The railway’s press spokeswoman counters this. She emphasizes that the renovation is done after assessing their wear and tear. This is regular, long-term planned work.
A total of 19 kilometers of track and twelve switches will be replaced. This requires 32,000 sleepers and 38,000 tons of gravel to be installed and 10,000 tons of soil to be moved. A track construction train is used, which carries out track reconstruction, ballast cleaning and improvement of the subgrade, i.e. the level ground, in one step.
This is how the gravel is cleaned
The gravel is replaced down to the sole and cleaned with “shakers” and “screens” directly in the cleaning unit of the machine used. This removes dirt, fine particles and the so-called undersized particles (gravel stones that are too small). During cleaning, the gravel, which is mainly made of hard granite, is also sanded. Then it’s sharp-edged again. The ballast bed must hold the sleepers and at the same time be “elastic” when loaded with trains weighing several tons. It has a minimum thickness of 50 centimeters. This corresponds to around four tonnes of gravel per meter of track.
As a rule, a renewed track bed consists of two-thirds to three-quarters of cleaned ballast. The rest is virgin gravel. The old gravel is temporarily stored in areas next to the railway line. New material is mainly provided by rail wagons.
Some sleepers are reused
Removed thresholds are checked and are used differently depending on their condition. Intact sleepers can be reused in areas with low loads, such as on sidings, or can be used in other areas, for example in foundations or fencing.
At peak times, up to 50 people are working on the route renovation every day. The costs of the renovation can only be quantified after the construction work has been completed, said the railway spokeswoman. Next year these will take place on other sections of the route from June 11th to July 19th.
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