Waldbröl has been reconnected to the DB railway network! The gap in the rails that had been opened back in 2014 due to the pending construction of the 'Boxberg' roundabout, has been closed again and so the 'Landesbetrieb Straßen NRW (regional road authority of NRW)', as well as the town of Waldbröl have issued an invitation to the “Formal opening for traffic of the A-Road B 256 roundabout for traffic between Waldbröl and Boxberg” on Friday, September 8th, 2017.

Start:                  11:00 a.m.

Assembly area:  Car park of the 'Restaurant Boxberg', Kaiserstr. 113, 51545 Waldbröl.

 

 

The ballast still has to be tampered and so the rails still look a bit uneven - but the gap in the track bed, that has been torn ahead of the construction works as early as 2014, has been closed again now. Waldbröl is reconnected to the DB railway network again by this.

 

Did the rails still end up in front of the the other side of the underpass two weeks ago, this photo shows they have been relaid there as well (view from Hermesdorf towards Waldbröl Stn.).

 

Also the remaining gap between the 'Boxberg' roundabout and the temporary end of the track beside the 'Selkirk'-hall has been closed.


 

At seven o'clock on the dot on Thursday morning, August 17th, 2017, the last stage in the construction process began with the delivery of the railway construction machinery for the tamping and alignment of the rails by truck in Waldbröl-Hermesdorf.

 

The well-practised team unloaded and started to orientate the tamping machine in the direction of the rails unbelievably fast.


 

Less than thirty minutes later the machine has been transferred to the rails and can now run on its own wheels to its deployment at the 'Boxberg Roundabout' site.

 

Shortly after a second engine follows...


 

...and a third one.

 

About tenish in the morning all machines are busy and already made good progress, but also a 'hellish noise'.


 

But the result of this 'hellish noise' is impressive. Here the Hermesdorf side of the 'Boxberg Roundabout' is shown.

 

Close-up view on the completed track on the Hermesdorf side of the 'Boxberg Roundabout'.


 

This photo shows the the readily tampered and aligned track on the Waldbröl Stn. side of the 'Boxberg Roundabout'.


At this point, let's have a brief look back to see how the old 'Boxberg' bridge of the B256 across the Wiehltalbahn looked like before the erection of the new roundabout and at the various stages of the construction works:

The wonderful, old entry signal of Waldbröl Stn. in front of the old B 256 underpass is already showing "stop" on this photo of February 8th, 2014 (view in the direction of Waldbröl Stn.). The embankments have already been pruned in preparation of the construction works, but the track is still untouched.

 

This was how the other side of the old B 256 underpass looked like on February 8th, 2014 (view from Waldbröl Stn. in the direction of Hermesdorf).


 

On March 26th, 2015, the track already ended beside the 'Selkirk'-hall in front of the old underpass. Due to the construction measures, the rails have already been ripped off on the prospective construction site and a temporarily temporary crossing of the railway cutting for the road traffic has been erected.

 

Close-up view of the shell construction of the temporary crossing of the railway cutting between Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-road (left) and the B256 (right). The cleared track bed and the old underpass are clearly discernable in the background.


 

Also for pedestrians and cyclists a temporary bridge across the construction site had to be created. This photo depicts the steel construction of the access ramp to the actual pedestrian bridge on June 17th, 2015.

 

The actual, temporary pedestrian bridge in front of the already heavily demolished old bridge of the B256 across the Wiehltalbahn at Waldbröl Stn. entry on June 17th, 2015.


 

Demolition of the old bridge on June 17th, 2015. The 'Selkirk'-hall can be seen in the background.

 

Status of work on September 10th, 2015: The old bridge is already completely removed and the site is being prepared for the construction of the new roundabout.


to be continued...