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Tallinn's Tondi district witnessed a groundbreaking engineering endeavor with the installation of two massive 500-ton viaducts. The construction process employed a specialised technique, strategically building the viaducts alongside the railway and later shifting them into position using hydraulic jacks and rails equipped with Teflon pads.
"If such large viaducts were built in their final location, railway traffic would be closed for several months due to construction. In Tondi, the viaducts were built next to the railway embankment and only then pushed into their final location. We were able to position the viaducts in two days, and the overall interruption of railway traffic lasted nine days," noted Robert Sinikas, a member of the board of INF Infra OÜ, an engineering and construction company belonging to the Infortar group.
"The solution proposed by engineers allows saving time in the construction of tunnels and bridges. Shortening the interruption time of railway traffic is critically important," said Sinikas.
The viaducts, weighing five hundred tons each, were moved into place in two parts, a method not previously used in Estonia for viaducts of such length. The tunnelling work was carried out by INF Infra OÜ, a company belonging to the Infortar group. The same company is currently constructing the longest arched bridge in Estonia in Pärnu, where a 1200-ton arched bridge structure will be assembled on the shore and then lifted into its final position over the river using special lifting equipment.
The main contractor for the construction of the two-level crossing at Tallinn's Tondi railway crossing is Leonhard Weiss OÜ, and the client is the Tallinn Environment and Utilities Department. The two-level crossing will be completed by the end of next year, and in addition to the viaduct, the access roads will also be renewed. The total cost of the project is estimated to be 9 million euros.
Watch the video of the jacking of Tondi viaducts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INc8Y15kLDE]
