The high-speed railway line “Talayuela-Cáceres” in the section “Alcántara Reservoir – Garrovillas” saves the River Almonte on its arrival to Alcántara reservoir through a large concrete arch with superior deck of 384 m of main span, with its foundations located outside the water of the reservoir. This large arch is the main section of a viaduct 996 m long, and 36 m tall.
This viaduct became, in terms of main span, the largest span of high-speed rail in the world (surpassing Dashegguan bridge in China, with 336 m), the largest railway concrete arch (without restricting the high speed) surpassing in over 100 m the length of the bridge over the lake Froschgrund in the line Nürnberg - Erfurt (270 m) Germany. Also, it became the third largest concrete with no distinction of the type of traffic (second only to China Wanxian Bridge (420 m) and very near the larger of the two bridges between the islands of Sveti Marko and Krk in Croatia (390 m).
The arch has a hollow octagonal section in its central area, opening into two solid hexagonal feet that reach the foundation. The arch was built using the cantilever method with auxiliar stay towers to avoid the construction of temporary piers in the reservoir.
Owner: Adif AV
Project: Arenas & Asociados - IDOM
Total length: 996 m. Deck width: 14 m. Main span: 384 m
Contractor: UTE FCC - Conduril
Arenas & Asociados’ Role: Complete project developer
Relevant Publications: HyA Monographic Issue
