Dealing with riveted railway bridges of high cultural value.

Dealing with riveted railway bridges of high cultural value. The continuing use of riveted railway bridges may be questioned because of increasing train loads. Riveted bridges often possess high cultural values and, consequently, aspects of cultural heritage have to be considered in addition to technical and economic issues when dealing with riveted railway bridges. Over the last 20 years, knowledge on the structural and fatigue behavior of riveted railway bridges have been significantly improved allowing nowadays for realistic examination of these bridges. This state-of-the-art is comprised in the soon to be released SIA codes on existing structures. Three examples illustrate that interests of railway companies and cultural heritage coincide when dealing with riveted railway bridges of high cultural value.