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Railway viaduct Žampach

The Žampach railway viaduct, which is sometimes also called the Kocourský viaduct or the bridge on Žampach, is one of the highest stone railway bridges in Central Europe. There are even sources that mention the railway viaduct in Žampach as the highest stone railway bridge in Central Europe.

Information for visitors

Adress: Železniční viadukt Žampach, Jílové u Prahy
GPS: 49.87315140, 14.48788750
Railway viaduct Žampach map

Interesting facts Railway viaduct Žampach

The bridge spans the Kocour valley and the Studený stream or also the Kocourský stream, between parts of Studená and Žampach in the town of Jílové near Prague. It can be found between the Luka pod Medníkem and Jílové u Prahy railway stations (this is the Vrané nad Vltavou - Čerčany railway line).

It consists of seven arches with a span of 12 meters. The total height of the bridge is 41.73 meters. For comparison, this is a bridge only less than one meter lower than the Nuselský Bridge in Prague. The viaduct is a total of 109.33 meters long and has no longitudinal axis in a straight line, but in an arc with a radius of 180 m. Coarse-grained granite or granodiorite, a stone from quarries in the vicinity (Kamenný přívoz and Borek) was chosen as the material for the construction of the bridge. The width of the bridge deck is 5.77 m.

The construction of the railway viaduct was started in the spring of 1898 and the operation on it was ceremoniously started on May 1, 1900. The stone from the nearby quarries was transported to the place by means of field grooves and upwards by means of a double-track slope.

The construction consumed 5,780 m3 of quarry stone, 600 m3 of stone blocks, 450 m3 of arch stones and 56 stone rafters. During the construction, a wooden scaffolding was used, on which 750 m3 of planks and 488 m3 of logs were used. Approximately 200 workers, mostly from Italy, worked on the construction site every day, who were already building similar buildings in the Alps.

The bridge has not yet undergone any major repairs and still serves its original purpose today.

 

Author: Andrea Štyndlová