The Červená Railway Bridge () is a

railway bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somet ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, located on the rail line between

Tábor Tábor (; ) is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 34,000 inhabitants, making it the second most populated town in the region. The town was founded by the Hussites in 1420. The historic town centre is well pres ...

and

Písek Písek (; ) is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 31,000 inhabitants. The town is known for the oldest bridge in the country. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an urban monument z ...

, over the

Orlík Reservoir The Orlík Reservoir () is the largest hydroelectric dam in the Czech Republic. It dams the Vltava River near the village of Solenice, which is near the town of Příbram. The structure is named after Orlík Castle, which is situated a few kilome ...

. It was declared a cultural monument of the Czech Republic in 2021.

History

The bridge was built in 1886–1889 from steel from the First Czech-Moravian Machine Factory, the largest producer of steel structures in Bohemia at the time. Designed by the engineers Meltzer and Hüsse, it opened on 20 November 1889. It was built without scaffolding, using the balanced cantilever method, first railway bridge in the area built using this method. During its construction, it became the second highest bridge in all of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

. The bridge was the subject of a

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

study in 1950, noting that it was of local strategic importance only. According to the report, the bridge is 500 m long (noting that this length seems exaggerated), with a height of 65–70 m above the river. Since 2021, it has been a

cultural monument of the Czech Republic Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, attitudes, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...

, with the designation noting: "The railway steel lattice bridge, built at the end of the 1880s near the settlement of Červená, is a unique technical structure of extraordinary importance not only in terms of its dimensions, but also in its static arrangement and method of flying assembly. At the end of the 19th century, it was the very first railway bridge in our country, built without scaffolding by fly assembly, which was a revolutionary innovation in construction. (...)"

Technical details

The structure is a three-span, truss girder bridge with an immediate bridge deck without a ballast platform, built in 1886 using the balanced cantilever method. The bridge is long with three main spans of , the load-bearing structure is formed by two truss girders with overall height of and system of cross and longitudinal beams supporting the intermediate bridge deck. A rail expansion device is installed on both ends.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cervena Railway Bridge Písek District Railway bridges in the Czech Republic Cultural heritage of the Czech Republic Landmarks in the Czech Republic 1889 establishments in Austria-Hungary