Guadalete River Railway Viaduct

The Guadalete River Railway Viaduct forms part of the double-tracking works on the Jerez Airport – Cádiz section of the Seville–Cádiz railway corridor. The infrastructure was designed to increase the capacity of the line, eliminate three level crossings and upgrade the route for a design speed of 220 km/h. With a total length of 3,221.7 metres, the viaduct crosses the Guadalete River and its floodplain twice, minimizing environmental impact through the use of a precast bridge deck solution with spans of up to 49 metres

The most significant engineering challenge of the project was associated with the deep foundation system, constructed on a soft soil stratum exceeding 25 metres in thickness, which was unable to adequately withstand the horizontal loads transmitted by railway traffic. To ensure the required stiffness of the soil–foundation system, large pile caps were designed and supported on groups of five bored piles with a diameter of 2.0 metres, ranging from 39 to 54 metres in length. The piles were installed using permanent steel casings until reaching the competent marl formation

From the perspective of fabricated reinforcing steel, the project represented one of the most technically demanding railway structures undertaken by ERSIGROUP. The reinforcement cages for the bored piles reached exceptional reinforcement densities of up to 1,200 kg of reinforcing steel per linear metre, incorporating configurations of up to 158 longitudinal Ø32 mm reinforcing bars at the pile head together with Ø16 mm transverse reinforcement spaced at 70 mm. Individual reinforcement cages weighed approximately 15 tonnes, while fully reinforced piles reached weights of up to 31.2 tonnes. These dimensions required the development of dedicated fabrication equipment together with specialized procedures for transportation, lifting and on-site assembly

ERSIGROUP participated in the supply, fabrication and installation of reinforcement for bored piles, pile caps and bridge piers. All reinforcement cages were fully prefabricated under controlled factory conditions and delivered to site ready for installation, ensuring high dimensional accuracy for the vertical splicing of reinforcement cages and facilitating the construction of the complex reinforcement connections between piles and pile caps. The industrialized fabrication process optimized production efficiency, improved safety during the handling of heavy reinforcement assemblies and guaranteed full traceability and quality control of the reinforcing steel in one of Spain’s most demanding railway infrastructure projects

The combination of detailed engineering, industrialized reinforcement fabrication, dedicated production equipment and specialized logistics enabled the successful execution of a technically complex infrastructure characterized by deep foundations and exceptionally high reinforcement densities, reinforcing ERSIGROUP‘s expertise in the delivery of major railway projects through advanced fabricated reinforcing steel solutions

KEY MILESTONES

• 3,221.7 m long railway viaduct crossing the Guadalete River floodplain
• Infrastructure designed for double-track railway operation with a design speed of 220 km/h
• 101 spans with maximum span lengths of 49 m
• Bridge deck constructed using prestressed precast concrete girders
• 43,797 m³ of structural concrete placed
• 6,615 tonnes of fabricated and installed reinforcing steel
• Deep foundations comprising groups of five Ø2.0 m bored piles reaching lengths of up to 54 m
• Reinforcement cages with densities of up to 1,200 kg of reinforcing steel per linear metre
• Reinforced piles weighing up to 31.2 tonnes, with individual reinforcement cages weighing approximately 15 tonnes
• Reinforcement configurations incorporating up to 158 longitudinal Ø32 mm reinforcing bars and Ø16 mm transverse reinforcement at 70 mm spacing
• Development of dedicated fabrication equipment for the industrial production of heavy reinforcement cages
• Fully industrialized fabrication, transportation and installation of reinforcement developed by ERSIGROUP, optimizing productivity, dimensional accuracy, safety and quality control