Bielawa Dolna Railway Bridge

The railway bridge over the Nysa Łużycka near Pieńsk is a border railway bridge from 1870, running from Poland to Germany. It links the Polish town of Węgliniec with the German locality of Horka on the Węgliniec-Roßlau railway line, near the village of Bielawa Dolna.

Construction and age

The bridge was built in 1870. It has six steel trusses, three for each track. The structure is in poor technical condition: currently only one track is in use, on which trains may run at a maximum speed of 70 kilometres per hour and under a limited load of 196 kN per axle.

The Polish-German border

The bridge crosses the Nysa Łużycka river, which at this point forms the state border. It links the Polish town of Węgliniec with the German locality of Horka, lying on the international Węgliniec-Roßlau railway line.

Modernisation plans

On 26 February 2008 the infrastructure ministers of Poland and Germany signed an intergovernmental agreement on the construction, maintenance and operation of border railway bridges on the Oder and the Nysa Łużycka. Under the agreement the Polish side was to build a new, double-track bridge on this section for freight trains running at 120 kilometres per hour with a load of 245 kN per axle. The bridge and this section of the line are being rebuilt as part of the modernisation of the international railway line E 30.

Practical information

• Location: the Nysa Łużycka river on the Polish-German border, near the village of Bielawa Dolna near Pieńsk.
• Getting there: a railway structure visible from nearby roads and the riverbank; the bridge is not open for pedestrians to walk across.
• What to expect: a 19th-century steel truss structure in poor technical condition, still in use for rail traffic on a single track, of interest to enthusiasts of technical heritage and border areas.