The Rail Baltica bridge pillar driven into the River Daugava will be conserved this year, while its “deconservation” is most likely to take place only after 2030. This was confirmed by Māris Dzelme, Chairman of the Board of Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas, the company implementing the Rail Baltica project in Latvia, in the TV24 programme Uz līnijas.
“The purpose of conservation is to ensure that this structure, this part of the bridge, is preserved in such a condition that when bridge construction resumes, this section is not damaged and can be used in the future,” the builder explained.
Asked whether such a method could reduce the safety or quality of the bridge pillar once it is deconserved, he responded bluntly: “There is absolutely no such thing as zero risk. It simply does not exist in life.”
“At the moment,
there is no precisely defined date for when the deconservation of the bridge pillar could begin.
First and foremost, this depends on the availability of funding. The second issue related to this bridge is that the Riga bypass is currently not included in the first phase of Rail Baltica at all. The focus is on the construction of the main line, which means that, in the worst-case scenario, we will return to the bridge only after 2030. If funding becomes available, we could resume construction of the bridge. It would be good to move it forward piece by piece, even in small spans. That would be excellent,” Dzelme noted.
The Rail Baltica contractor also stressed that the conserved bridge structure will be regularly monitored.
“Of course, conservation also means monitoring. This structure will be monitored throughout the entire conservation period to check whether any changes occur, because there is an overhang, materials can ‘fatigue’. That is why there are specific conservation methods that will keep the structure stable, unchanged and usable in the future,” he explained.
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