Viaduto de Madrid, Redondela, Railway viaduct in Redondela, Spain.
The Viaducto de Madrid is a railway viaduct crossing the centre of Redondela, built of stone and laminated iron. It is 411 metres long and 32 metres high, with 255.89 metres of metal deck and the rest in stone; its pillars are stone filled with pine logs. The iron gives it a reddish colour, unlike the grey Pontevedra viaduct.
Spain granted Galicia its own rail network on 12 May 1863, but the first train on the Vigo-Ourense route only ran in 1876, crossing this viaduct inaugurated on 30 June 1876. Augusto Cazaux directed construction, with technology supplied by the French Compagnie de Fives-Lille. The bridge carried trains for over a century until it fell out of use in the 1970s.
The name "viaducto de Madrid" dates from the 1990s and has nothing to do with the original line, which only reached Ourense. Local tradition long held that Pedro Floriani built the bridge, a confusion with the Italian architect Pietro Paolo Floriani; Floriani is thought to have been a subcontractor. The iron plate girders give the structure a reddish tone, unlike the grey Pontevedra viaduct.
The viaduct has been out of rail service since the 1970s. A green mesh was fitted to catch falling rust, paint flakes and small metal pieces. Rehabilitation works ran from 2012 to 2014, lasting eighteen months with a budget of 3.8 million euros, and the structure is intended for pedestrian use.
The name "viaducto de Madrid" dates from the 1990s and is misleading: the railway line originally only reached Ourense, never Madrid. Many in Redondela believe Pedro Floriani built the bridge, but the project was executed by Parent Schaken Hovel & Caillet, later Compagnie de Fives-Lille; Floriani is thought to have been a subcontractor.
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