Elbbrücken Train Station

Coating systems from Sherwin-Williams provide long-term fire and corrosion protection for the structural steelwork at Hamburg's Elbbrücken station. Located on the banks of the Norderelbe river, Elbbrücken station consists of above-ground 'U-Bahn' and 'S-bahn' suburban train platforms. Due to the close proximity to the river, a 2-in-1 FIRETEX® Platinum system was chosen to increase the fire resistance duration of the load-bearing structure whilst meeting the high requirements for corrosion protection in a maritime environment.

Hamburg’s HafenCity is the most important urban expansion area of the metropolitan region. In the east, the new 'Elbbrücken' quarter, which has living space, offices, and Hamburg’s first skyscraper, is currently under construction. The new underground and suburban railway station is expected to be used by up to 20,000 passengers daily, including Hamburg residents, visitors and tourists. The functional and architectural demands placed on the construction of the new transport infrastructure are correspondingly high because the underground railway runs this final part of the route above ground. Thanks to the station's glazed roof, passengers can enjoy impressive views of Hamburg's landmarks such as the Elbphilharmonie, Michel and Elbe.

The platform roof consists of an external, curved structure made of steel with glazing suspended underneath. The steel arches span the platforms diagonally and are twisted. Steel construction company SEH Engineering GmbH developed special bending and assembly devices for this purpose in order to precisely implement the profile curve of the welded, double-T-shaped and interleaved arched trusses. At the granting of the Steel Innovation Award 2018 of the Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahl (Steel Association), SEH Engineering GmbH was awarded the 1st prize in the category Steel in Construction for the construction of the steel roof. There are three levels in the hall of the underground station where passengers have access to the trains and can cross the tracks safely. The underground station is connected to the future suburban railway station via a pedestrian bridge, the so-called “Skywalk”. Deutsche Bahn is the operator of the suburban railway line and opened the new station in December 2019.

Providing a 2-in-1 corrosion and fire protection coatings system

The entire steel superstructure of the suburban and underground railway station is protected against corrosion by a coating system from Sherwin-Williams in accordance with TL/TP-KOR steel structures, sheet 87. This consists of the primer Zinc Clad® R, the edge protection Macropoxy® EG Phosphate (new product: Macropoxy® EG Phosphate N) and the intermediate coat Macropoxy® EG-1 (new product: Macropoxy® EG-1 Plus). The final top coat Acrolon® EG-4 was applied in the shade DB 702. The soffits of the track superstructure and the tree supports of the underground railway station are provided with a 2-component fire protection system from Sherwin-Williams. In order to increase the fire resistance duration of the load-bearing components, the FIRETEX® Platinum intumescent coating was applied over the Zinc Clad® R primer and the Macropoxy® EG Phosphate edge protection. As the final top coat, Acrolon® EG-4 in the shade DB 703 according to Sheet 87 was also used here. The steel superstructure of the 'Elbbrücken' underground station in Hamburg is thus one of the first steel structures to be completely equipped with a corrosion protection system from Sherwin-Williams according to Sheet 87, in combination with a Sherwin-Williams fire protection system. Both systems from the manufacturer are compatible with each other and, therefore, unique in the market in this combination capability. The result is significant time savings during production at the factory and on the building site, as different primers and top coats do not need to be used.

Completion of protective and sealing systems on the building site

The factory pre-coating of the steel elements was carried out by Surface Protection GmbH, a subsidiary of SEH Engineering GmbH. Special craftsmanship was required during the coating work on the round tree supports of the Skywalk in order to achieve a uniform layer thickness of the material. The welded joints were brought up to the level of the factory coating on site in accordance with the requirements of ZTV-ING, Part 4, Section 3 – Corrosion protection of steel structures with the primer, the edge protection and the intermediate coat. Finally, the entire steel structure was coated with the Acrolon® EG-4 top coat in the DB 702 shade. The coating of the top sides of the cover plates in the area of the track crossing and the pedestrian bridges was carried out in accordance with ZTV-ING, Part 7, Section 4 – Bridge floorings on steel surfaces. A total of about 12,000 m² of steel structures are protected with systems from Sherwin-Williams at the station.

How Sherwin-Williams experts supported this project

Specialist consultants from Sherwin-Williams were already involved in the corrosion and fire protection planning of the construction project and supported the planners and processors with their knowledge. Sherwin-Williams application technicians accompanied the coating work at the plant and on the building site. The services relating to the construction project—from the planning to the execution at the plant and on the building site—were highly valued by the client, the contractor, and their applicators throughout the construction process. 

CONSTRUCTION BOARD

PROJECT

Elbbrücken Station on the U4 subway line and S-Bahn in Hamburg

CONSTRUCTION PERIOD

Subway construction period: 2016 - 2018
S-Bahn construction period: 2018 - 2019 

BUILDER

Subway builder:
Hamburger Hochbahn AG

S-Bahn builder:
Deutsche Bahn AG

EXECUTION

Executor of steel construction and factory coating work:
SEH Engineering GmbH, Hanover
Coating work on site: Corrosion Protection Naumann (U-Bahn), EnBeKo GmbH (S-Bahn)