"The course of the movement of trains will be smooth and almost silent": builders have completed laying the rails on the Krymsky bridge

The builders of the bridge across the Kerch Strait completed laying the rails on both tracks of the railway crossing. This was on Thursday, July 18, reported in the information center "Crimean Bridge".

“Two brigades - from the side of Kerch and Taman - met and closed the rails under the arch of the arch. The final links were solemnly laid on the second track (Crimean direction), ”the message says.

The docking in the first direction, leading from the peninsula to the mainland, was carried out a month ago by specialists. In total, the builders laid almost 5 thousand tons of rails and more than 76 thousand sleepers on the double-track road. Placed on the bridge, the 25-meter links are now connected by electro-contact welding into so-called whips.

“Travel rail welding machines are working. Welds - there will be more than 3 thousand of them - are being polished. The movement of trains on such routes will be smooth and almost silent, ”said Yevgeny Chibyshev, the head of the contracting organization.

It is noted that the whips are 440-meter sections, between which put equalizing devices. These devices compensate for the temperature expansion of the metal, which will allow the steel heat-strengthened rails to "breathe" in the event of an increase or decrease in air temperature.

Further, the builders have to perform a significant amount of work, including ballasting with rubble and bearing each way. After that, the installation of railway automation will begin, in particular, alarm devices, centralization and blocking. Already immediately before the start of operation of the railway bridge, mechanical cleaning and grinding of the rails will be carried out.

The installation of noise barriers on the adjacent sections of the bridge is also continuing. From the side of Kerch, their length will be 1.3 km, and from the side of Taman - 700 meters.

Backlight in the colors of the Russian tricolor

Throughout the length of the bridge builders are installing lighting racks with LED lights. And on the main fairway section of the structure, architectural lighting will appear in the colors of the Russian tricolor, which will be turned on after the train starts.

“This is a monochrome static light. Red and blue diodes are already installed on the railway and road arches, respectively. White is now fastened on supports that hold shipping spans. There is installation and configuration of trunk shields. Illumination will cover spans adjacent to the arches. In general, the length of the section to be highlighted is more than a kilometer, ”said Dmitry Ivanov, leading engineer of the production and technical department of the contracting organization.

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In parallel with these works, construction of buildings for the exploitation of the railway part of the bridge is underway. In total, the facility in two shifts employs almost 5 thousand engineers and workers.

The press center reported that the automobile part of the bridge continues to operate normally. Since May 16, 2018, more than 5 million cars have driven through it. Only in June and almost three weeks of July 2019, the total traffic in both directions amounted to almost 950 thousand vehicles.

Commenting on the construction progress, deputy of the Republican State Council Vladislav Ganzhara, in an interview with RT, said that Crimea was waiting for the launch of the railway part of the bridge no less than it was with the road transport junction. According to the parliamentarian, the Crimean Bridge has completely changed the life and logistics on the peninsula. He added that the construction of the railway part in Crimea is expected to be completed earlier than the stated deadline.

“This will fully complete the logistic process of integrating the peninsula into the Russian Federation, because from the point of view of the Crimean economy, cargo transportation, railway transportation is very necessary for our peninsula,” said Ganzhara.

The parliamentarian mentioned that rail transportation will seriously affect the availability of the Republic of Crimea for both residents and guests of the peninsula. The deputy also drew attention to the political importance of the structure.

“We remember how much skepticism was in the whole world and in the neighboring state, primarily regarding the Crimean bridge. When our Crimea Bridge is finally completed, it will be a response to the whole world regarding the capabilities of our country, regarding the fact that Crimea has literally become an integral part of the Russian Federation, ”concluded Ganzhara.

Starting the movement of trains in December

Installation of all spans of the railway part of the bridge was completed at the end of March 2019. It is about 160 thousand metal structures on 307 supports. More than 6 km of spans are located above the water area, the rest pass over land.

The railway part of the Crimean bridge consists of 306 span structures with two blocks in each. From them form branches for parallel movement of trains to the Crimea and back.

The railway on the Crimean bridge is designed for the movement of trains weighing up to 7100 tons in the temperature range from -27 ° C to +57 ° C. The capacity of the crossing is estimated at 47 pairs of trains per day.

In early June, it was reported that the movement of trains along the railway part of the bridge across the Kerch Strait should begin on December 9-10, 2019. Ticket sales will start in October, 45 days before the trains start.

It will be possible to buy a train ticket to the Crimea at railway ticket offices, as well as on the Internet. According to preliminary information, the first two trains will be sent in the direction of Sevastopol - St. Petersburg and Simferopol - Moscow.

Before the beginning of the holiday season in April - May 2020 it is planned to launch 11 destinations. The lines will connect Simferopol, Sevastopol, Yevpatoria and Feodosia with Krasnodar, Murmansk, Yekaterinburg and a number of other cities of Russia.

The average time spent in the journey of the train Moscow - Simferopol will be 35 hours. The launch of high-speed trains from the mainland of Russia to the Crimea is not planned yet.