New Ivančice Viaduct, Railway bridge in Moravské Bránice, Czech Republic.
The New Ivančice Viaduct is a single-track steel railway bridge with a continuous box-girder main span 387 m long, carrying the track 44.5 m above the Jihlava River. Opened in 1978, it runs parallel to the old viaduct, 15 m downstream, and its five piers are solid steel frame structures.
The original bridge was built in the 1800s and served the region for over a century before becoming inadequate for increasing rail traffic. It was replaced with the current structure in the late 1970s using modern engineering methods and materials.
The old bridge was nicknamed "Eiffel's Bridge" for its resemblance to the Eiffel Tower, though no source links Gustave Eiffel to its design; the name Ivančice Viaduct has been used since 1925. A preserved end span with one pillar remains a cultural monument.
The surviving fragment of the old viaduct, one end span with its pillar, stands near the Moravské Bránice abutment and is a protected cultural monument; the new bridge runs 15 m downstream. The two are best seen from the valley floor of the Jihlava, roughly 3 km southeast of Ivančice between the Moravský Krumlov and Moravské Bránice stations.
The previous structure was made from cast iron and required thousands of tons of material, while the new design is lighter and more efficient. This shift shows how railway engineering changed across decades.
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