Arcadis spans the tracks of Gare d'Austerlitz

Arcadis, an international engineering and consulting company, unveils the Gare d'Austerlitz railway crossing bridge, aimed at opening up the Gare d'Austerlitz district. This 2 tonne steel deck was pushed over the railway tracks for the second time at an average speed of 100m per hour between Saturday 2th and Sunday 16th April. For safety, rail traffic has been completely interrupted on 17 tracks. “Launching the bridge over the tracks with a single intermediate support point is both a great technical feat and an emblematic operation which comes to concretize the work of several years. says Arnaud NAËL, Project Director at Arcadis.

The Arcadis teams had to deal with strong constraints linked to the existing infrastructures (railways, metro line 10, Salpêtrière hospital, etc.) without impacting day-to-day operation. Beyond the structural complexity linked to the architecture of the bridge, the other major challenge was to harmoniously insert the new connection in a very diverse architectural context: many historic buildings including the chapel of Saint-Louis de la Salpêtrière next to boulevard de l'Hôpital and new buildings including the headquarters of the Le Monde group on the avenue Pierre Mendès-France. Finally, climatic obstacles gave the teams a hard time: the flooding of the Rhine in July 2021 slowed down the transport by river of the metal frame, pre-assembled in the Lauterbourg factory in Alsace and transported to the site for finalization. .

With a length of 87 meters and a variable width of 19 to 32 meters, the bridge was designed as a public square aimed at creating a new pedestrian, cyclist and road link between two districts of Paris Rive Gauche by crossing the obstacle in the railway line at Austerlitz station.

As project manager (agent), Arcadis won, alongside Wilkinson Eyre Architects and Arpentère (landscaper), the competition launched in 2016 by SEMAPA (developer of the ZAC Paris Rive Gauche) and the City of Paris, for the construction of the bridge linking the two sectors of the Austerlitz district on either side of the railway lines. “With the Mère-Teresa bridge which crosses the Saint-Lazare beam, we are the designers of the last two bridges spanning Parisian railway beams: complex and unusual operations in an extremely dense built environment. Our mastery of the operation as a whole and our proven experience with the Mother-Teresa bridge have enabled us to support SEMAPA in this emblematic project which constitutes a technical, architectural and urban challenge, of which we are very proud. » declares Claire RAVETTI, Project Manager at Arcadis.

The site, which started in June 2020, should be completed in 2023 with the berthing and surface development works. While waiting for the opening of the bridge to the public at the end of the work in the Austerlitz sector, SEMAPA welcomed this last major launching operation. “Connecting the banks of the Seine to the existing districts of the 15th arrondissement of Paris by crossing the obstacle of the railway line of the Gare d'Austerlitz is a real technical feat and opens up the Austerlitz-Gare district. Once in service, the new bridge should save pedestrians XNUMX minutes on foot! concludes SEMAPA.

Arcadis has recognized expertise in the design of engineering structures and complex civil engineering projects with major achievements such as the Millau Viaduct, the covering of the ring road at Porte de Vanves or even bridge buildings such as the Biodiversity Tower in the 13th arrondissement of Paris and the "Les Vergers" building complex in Cergy-Pontoise.