Ostbahnhof

I took today off to visit the construction site at the Ostbahnhof. The Ostbahnhof is mostly getting a new roof. Glass panes kept falling down and it turned out that the steel bands holding the two sides of the roof together needed to be replaced. As with all construction sites you find more issues when you start looking. Apparently the pins stopping the roof from moving along the tracks under high wind were mostly gone. The tour was super interesting. Lots of engineering challenges had to be solved. The station is on the main East-West route through Berlin. So the work had to be done while the station was still operating. One challenge was lifting loads. They came up with the idea of using a portal crane. The loads are attached with three hooks to reduce the risk of loads falling onto the tracks. Also, loads are inside a cage which can catch them should they fall (see extra). It's the first time a portal crane was used in a setting like this. The problem is obviously that it needs to be shown to fulfill all regulations and get an official stamp of approval. Since it's the first and only of its kind there are no regulations governing a portal crane. The solution was to treat it as a safety bridge with attached crane. Very much enjoyed my adventure. So cool you get the opportunity to visit construction sites.

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