Germany · DE

Saubachtalbrücke

The Saubachtalbrücke (Saubach Valley Bridge) is a striking 248-metre-high-speed rail viaduct soaring 40 metres above the gentle Saubach valley near Bad Bibra and Finneland in Saxony-Anhalt. Completed in December 2006 as the first major engineering structure on the Erfurt–Leipzig/Halle high-speed line, it carries two parallel single-track bridges designed for trains running at up to 300 km/h — a unique configuration in Germany. For visitors, the bridge is best experienced from below, where it forms part of a remarkable layercake of railway engineering history. The old Finnebahn viaducts — the 20-metre-high Twelve Apostles Bridge and the grand 29-metre Schnecktalbrücke — stand within a short walk downstream, creating a compelling dialogue between early-twentieth-century masonry arches and twenty-first-century prestressed concrete.