Two steel bridges for the high speed railway line in Spain

This article synthesises the design criteria and erection process of two steel bridges designed for the high speed rail line connecting Madrid, Barcelona and the French Border. Both structures cross over existing infrastructures, near Barcelona, with a limited vertical clearance in order to reduce environmental impact. The conceptual design is similar for the two structures: a composite steel-concrete deck suspended on steel tied curved members. An innovative solution, at least for the Spanish HSR lines, that has been used in the past in concrete road bridges. These bridges are two of the three first steel structures built for the HSR in Spain.

Llinars Bridge crosses, at a very high skew angle, one of the busiest highways (AP-7) in Spain. This viaduct has an overall length of 574 m with a maximum span of 75 m. Sant Boi Bridge crosses several existing infrastructures (highway, road and railway). The length of the bridge is 870 m with a maximum span of 63 m.