Red alert! Frequent truck accidents endanger Hamburg's railway bridges!

Red alert! Frequent truck accidents endanger Hamburg's railway bridges!

The traffic situation around the railway bridges in Hamburg is becoming increasingly explosive. As ndr.de reports, collision damage to the bridges in the Hanseatic city is increasing. Most recently, an incident occurred on Tuesday in which a truck rammed the S-Bahn bridge in Wellingsbüttel. This resulted in the S-Bahn between Ohlsdorf and Poppenbüttel being blocked for two hours. The statistics speak for themselves: It was the 50th collision damage that Deutsche Bahn had to record since 2007.

The incidents are not only annoying, but also raise questions about transport infrastructure. Numerous hit-and-run accidents have been added to the collision damage, which makes the problem even more complicated. Silke Bertram, CDU MP, is now calling for the bridge in Wellingsbüttel to be quickly renovated with an increased clearance height. But Deutsche Bahn is not planning the renewal until 2030, which makes the situation even more tense. An application to lower Rolfinckstrasse under the bridge has already been submitted while Hamburg's transport authority is examining the possibility of a clearance height of 4.50 meters.

Accidents and misunderstandings in Stellingen

Meanwhile, in Stellingen there is a series of accidents under another railway bridge. Here the height of the freight bypass bridge is lower than stated. According to tagesschau.de, more than a dozen accidents have taken place since a dilapidated bridge was replaced in November 2024. Residents complain about loud noises and trucks getting stuck under the bridge. At the beginning of April, the police discovered that the bridge was around 10 cm deeper than indicated on the traffic signs - a finding that both the railway and the police had overlooked for months.

To defuse the situation, traffic signs were replaced and the clearance height was changed from 3.60 meters to 3.50 meters. The road under the bridge has been closed since then, which also affects bus routes. It is currently unclear how long this closure will last and who will pay for the damage caused by the accidents.

The bridge infrastructure in Germany

When you look at the situation in Hamburg, it becomes clear that it is part of a larger problem. Germany has an extensive bridge infrastructure with around 26,000 bridges in the Deutsche Bahn AG rail network, as ihk.de explains. Maintaining this infrastructure is a high priority, especially given the increasing age of many bridges. The average railroad bridge is about 75 years old, and some have even exceeded 100 years of age.

The necessary investments in transport infrastructure are considerable: in the coming years, at least 1,200 bridges will be renewed by 2029 as part of the Performance and Financing Agreement III. This should make the decision-makers in Hamburg sit up and take notice. Current events show that the course must be set now to avoid traffic closures and accidents in the future.