Railway Bridge Over Road in the Built-Up Area of Caen, France Reconstructed by 2 Railway Construction and Maintenance Group RE.
The bridge carried two main lines and a shunting neck siding at the entrance to the station layout. The original bridge was of plate girder and reinforced concrete slab construction, there being two parallel bridges each continuous over two intermediate rows of columns. One set of columns was demolished and the slab was also cut above this row of columns, so that it collapsed, partly blocking the road.
For the restoration of single track in the first stage, one bridge, more shattered than the other, was cleared and a viaduct of standard RS] railway spans supported on light standard steel trestling was constructed.
The other two tracks were opened by jacking up the undamaged portion of the slab, supporting it on heavy standard trestling and replacing the demolished portion by two RS] spans supported on a light steel trestle pier. _ `
Work commenced on 23rd July, I944, single line was opened for traffic on 15th August, 1944, and the remaining tracks on 30th August, 1944.
