📋 Tender Overview
A dozen experts specializing in bridge construction not only from the Czech Republic but also from other countries spent two days dealing in detail with the issue of the railway bridge under Pragues Vyehrad. The goal was to capture all relevant substantive arguments with regard to the shortest possible restrictions on the busy route between the main and Smchov railway stations.Both the specialists who prepared the assessments on the current state of degradation of the bridge and the experts proposed by the opponents of the current solution provided their evaluations of the already conducted surveys and calculations of the bridges load-bearing capacity. The third group confronting different approaches were participants nominated by CTU. On behalf of the Railway Administration Petr Hofhanzl director of the West Construction Administration who is also its secretary participated in the colloquium.The subject of the debate was also the engineering evaluation of the results of the international architectural competition in the form of the new bridge and its surroundings. The experts approached also looked into the possibility of carrying out reconstruction with regard to the required future load.Peter Strasser head of the Center for the Preservation of Cultural Monuments of the Danube University in Krem Austria commented on the technical solution from the point of view of monument preservation The current form of Prague illustrates a cross-section of its development from the Middle Ages to modern times. Its development does not conflict with the principles of historic preservation.The bridge was not in good condition perhaps forty years ago. Some questions still remain unanswered. But there is no time to postpone the final decision. Do them quickly no matter what said Eugen Brhwiler professor at the Building Maintenance and Safety Laboratory of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.At the end of the program those present defined common conclusions on the set assignments of the colloquium. Given the breadth of the debate and the difficulty of the individual topics the Railway Administration gave the participants of the colloquium additional space to prepare a summary statement on the entire issue which they will send to the Minister of Transport Martin Kupka within a week. This will serve as a basis for his final decision.
