With great joy, we look forward to the year 2024. One of the reasons for this: As part of the "Rail Partnership Model," we are realizing the Gäubahn North expansion in the consortium "ARGE VP5 Gäubahn" together with Swietelsky. We are now responsible for the superstructure and the power supply of the Gäubahn line between Stuttgart Airport and Böblingen. Already at the premiere of the contract model at the DB major project "Neues Werk Cottbus" (NWC), we were the partner of choice – and we are now even more proud that Deutsche Bahn is also relying on our competence in railway construction and the equipment of demanding railway lines for this project.
The Gäubahn North expansion is just one of numerous projects we are looking forward to this year. Here is a small selection of our other highlights:
Neues Werk Cottbus
Less than 20 months after the first groundbreaking, DB officially commenced operations at the new ICE maintenance depot in Cottbus in January, where the Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group, together with partners, was responsible for the transport facilities, civil engineering, railway technical equipment, and medium voltage supply. And: The successful collaboration continues, as we are also on board for the next project phase of the DB major project, responsible for the civil engineering and all railway technical works on the site of the depot and in the area of the Cottbus railway station.
Koralmtunnel
With an impressive length of 33 kilometers, the Koralmtunnel will soon connect Carinthia with Styria. Together with our consortium partner PORR Bau GmbH, the Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group is responsible for the construction and commissioning of the Slab Track and pathways, as well as all other equipment measures until commissioning at the end of 2025.
Westbahn – Four-track Expansion Linz-Wels
In the section Marchtrenk-Wels of the four-track expansion of the Westbahn line Linz-Wels, extensive track construction work will be carried out again in 2024. The Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group is on site with its track construction teams, high-performance tamping machines and track construction cranes. The installation of 29 switches and the construction and commissioning of the tracks on one of the new bridges over the A25 motorway, as well as the commissioning of the new Westbahn route through the shunting yard in Wels, are major milestones. In total, in addition to the switches, about 7.5 km of track will be newly constructed, and around 25,000 tons of track ballast delivered and installed.
Cross River Rail
In Brisbane, the Rhomberg Sersa Australia (RSA) team continue to work on the Cross-River-Rail project , a new 10.2 km rail line, including 5.9 km of twin tunnels under the Brisbane River and CBD. RSA are constructing the track slab within the Cross River Rail tunnels. A total of 11 kilometres of ballastless track slab will be built underground on completion, adopting a combination of specialist systems including floating track slab.
Lötschberg-Scheiteltunnel
In Switzerland, the Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group is renovating the Slab Track in the southern section of the Lötschberg-Scheiteltunnel for BLS AG in several stages under full operation. This section is part of the mountain route of the Lötschberg line and is the heart from Spiez to Brig.
Kirow Crane in Irish Rail Network in Operation
The first test shifts for a new Techne-Kirow crane took place in 2023 on the Irish rail network. The KRC 500, owned by Iarnród Éireann-Irish Rail and operated by the Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group, is the first railway crane to be deployed on the network since the 1970s. The crane was commissioned last year and has already completed a series of test shifts as part of this process. The full commissioning of the crane is expected by the end of this year.
