On Monday 3 May, the right-hand half of the Meulestede Bridge in Ghent was brought back by boat.
After the heavy collision in October 2020, the undamaged left-hand half of the bridge was realigned and left at the site by itself. After it was reunited with the repaired right-hand half, the 250-ton counterweight which had been removed was put back into position. After this onerous balancing act had been carried out successfully, it only took a couple of weeks to complete the restoration.
The job called for extreme precision, a lot of adjustments and continuous checks in order to make sure that all the pieces of the puzzle were put back together again correctly and to enable the bridge to be put back into operation. Once everything had been inspected thoroughly for the last time and it had been ensured that things were running smoothly, all that remained was to reinstall the trackside signals and remove the pedestrian bridge. The project was on the home stretch prior to what would hopefully be the final reopening of the old Meulestede Bridge in June.