Hamburg's new 3,700-tonne Sternbrücke slides onto the street on 1,088 wheels, heading for final placement Thursday

The first sideways shift

A 3,700-tonne steel rail bridge completed its first major manoeuvre in Hamburg's Sternschanze district on Wednesday, moving roughly 50 metres sideways from its assembly site onto Max-Brauer-Allee. The operation, watched by several hundred onlookers, took around half an hour and used 48 self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs) riding on a total of 1,088 wheels, each able to rotate 360 degrees. The road surface had been built up by an average of 60 centimetres and covered with steel plates to distribute the load.

“I am very satisfied and full of joy.”

Deutsche Bahn project lead Janna Widmaier said her team had worked towards the Wednesday and Thursday dates for years. Lars de Haas, project manager for Dutch firm Mammoet which executed the sideways shift, noted the operation finished slightly ahead of schedule.

“We were a bit faster than planned. That gives us more calm for the remaining work.”

Lifting to installation height

Later on Wednesday, the 108-metre-long, 21-metre-wide structure was to be raised hydraulically to a height of six metres above street level, the elevation at which it will ultimately be installed. Widmaier confirmed that eight hours were allocated for the lifting process. The sequence of sideways shift followed by hydraulic lift was designed as a two-stage intermediate step before the bridge travels to its permanent location.

Thursday's road journey through tight spaces

The most delicate phase remains the several-hundred-metre road transport to the final site at the Stresemannstrasse intersection, now brought forward to Thursday. Widmaier told NDR that the route includes very narrow passages, including one point where the bridge must pass a balcony with only 40 centimetres of clearance. The original plan had scheduled the move for one day later, but Deutsche Bahn advanced the timetable. The bridge is expected to be installed by the weekend.

“There are some very tight spots we have to pass through. In daylight it is a bit clearer.”

Why the old bridge is being replaced

The Sternbrücke carries the Verbindungsbahn, a central link in Hamburg's rail network connecting the main station and Altona station. Before the current closure, around 900 regional, long-distance and S-Bahn trains crossed its four tracks daily. After roughly 100 years of service, the steel structure had reached the end of its technical lifespan. Deutsche Bahn cited the condition of the built-in steel and other factors in the decision to replace it. Dismantling of the old railway bridge began on 24 July, and the new bridge is scheduled to reopen for rail traffic on 31 August.