Railway bridge over the Klabava in Chrást, Railway bridge over the Klabava in Chrást, Czech Republic
The railway bridge over the Klabava in Chrást is an iron truss viaduct on the Ejpovice–Radnice line, 105 m long and 25.7 m high. Two end abutments and two piers carry three riveted fish-belly girders, each spanning 37 m; the 1892 superstructure was kept during the 2002–2003 repairs.
Construction of the bridge was authorised on 18 May 1862 to link the Radnice coal district with the Prague–Plzeň main line. A 190-metre wooden structure served as scaffolding and carried trains from 1 April 1863; the iron bridge with Schifkorn beams, made at the Klein brothers' works in Sobotín, followed in October 1863. In 1892 riveted steel girders replaced it, and during that swap a section fell on 3 August, killing three workers.
The bridge is often attributed to Gustave Eiffel, a legend the Czech Radio programme "Jak vznikají legendy a mýty" addressed directly; in fact its ironwork came from the Klein brothers' ironworks in Sobotín. The 1892 steel trusses were assembled in a field and pulled onto the old bridge by a locomotive.
The bridge stands 700 m from the Chrást u Plzně stop on line 176 (Ejpovice–Radnice), so it is reached on foot from the station along public paths in the Klabava valley. The structure itself carries live railway tracks and has no visitor access; it is viewed from below or from the surrounding terrain.
The bridge is often said to have been built by Gustave Eiffel, but it was not; the ironwork came from the Klein brothers' ironworks in Sobotín. When completed in 1863 it was the second-highest bridge in Austria-Hungary.
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