- Commuters can breathe: New Oder Bridge officially opened
After over three and a half years of construction, the new Oder Bridge between the Polish Kostrzyn and the Brandenburgian Küstrin-Kietz was officially inaugurated. "Commuters on both sides of the Oder can breathe a sigh of relief," said Brandenburg's Minister-President Dietmar Woidke (SPD). "With the commissioning of the new railway bridge in Küstrin, trains from Berlin to Kostrzyn and Gorzów are running through again." Woidke attended the inauguration along with representatives of the railway, the federal government, and Poland.
The bridge has been open to traffic since the beginning of the week. A train of the Ostbahn RB 26 between the Polish Kostrzyn and the Brandenburgian Küstrin-Kietz, operated by the Niederbarnimer Eisenbahn, crossed the structure for the first time since the completion of the construction work on Monday.
The section had been closed with the change of the timetable in December 2020, since then replacement buses have been running. The travel time has significantly increased. The original completion date was postponed several times. Corona, lack of skilled workers, and material shortages contributed to this, according to the Niederbarnimer Eisenbahn.
The new 260-meter-long bridge over the Oder - the world's first network arch bridge with carbon hangers - is double-track and can be traveled at speeds up to 120 kilometers per hour. The journey time has been shortened by about two minutes. "With this, we are strengthening the rail in the growing, cross-border traffic between Germany and Poland," said the chairwoman of the railway infrastructure company InfraGo, Ingrid Felipe.
The inauguration ceremony was also attended by prominent Polish officials, demonstrating the importance of this bridge to Poland. Following the opening, trains from various Polish destinations, such as Kostrzyn and Gorzów, will utilize the new Oder Bridge for their journeys.
