Inspection of the premises - Katzenbergtunnel
The overhead contact line system for the Rhine Valley Line must be able to cope with high transit speeds, which requires transmission of electrical power at a correspondingly high level. Balfour Beatty Rail is using an innovative method for securing the overhead contact lines: the contact line in the Katzenberg tunnel will be Re 330 with a reinforcing conductor.
As the tunnel itself was built with individual segmented concrete liners Balfour Beatty Rail had to develop a new method of fastening the electrical equipment to the tunnel walls. The experts also had to modify the high-speed overhead contact line system for the requirements of single-track tunnels.
A 680 m long test track was built in the western tube of the Katzenberg Tunnel. This segment was sucessfully presented to representatives of Deutsche Bahn, of the EisenbahnBundesamts, the Eisenbahn-CERT and the press on April 19th, 2011. Both tunnel tubes will now be equipped using this new installation method and system components. Completion is scheduled for end of 2012.
Further information:
fileadmin/bbrail.de/Projekte/PDF/de/Projektbericht_Katzenbergtunnel.pdf