Next to the S-Bahn (suburban railway) stop Köln-Buchforst in the northeast of Cologne, this new railway bridge is under construction. It will carry the second track of the line from Köln-Mülheim to Köln Messe/Deutz (tief), which is single-tracked by now, but has to deal with increasing traffic since the new highspeed line to Frankfurt is in service (it is part of the shortest route from Düsseldorf to Frankfurt, which bypasses Köln Hbf). Three of the tracks between Köln-Mülheim and Köln Hbf (passing the upper level of Köln Messe/Deutz) are visible in the picture, the fourth one will be rebuilt in the foreground later. While the existing track to Köln Deutz/Messe (tief) (covered by the green in the background) crosses only one of them (entering the line between the two hindmost tracks, which are intended for trains coming from Mülheim), the new bridge will cross the three existing tracks, thus the track will enter the line between the first (at this time missing) and the second track. In order to avoid interfering with the traffic, the bridge was built besides the line. Later it will be shifted into the final position above the tracks, then the "left" end will rest on the pillar visible on the right. The embankment on the bridge building site will be completed then. In the background on the left, the (much shorter) bridge crossing the Kalk-Mülheimer-Straße is visible. The picture was taken from the platform of Köln-Buchforst (note the clock in the upper left corner) on 10 September 2006.

Digital photo by Christoph Schmitz (christoph.schmitz2@post.rwth-aachen.de)