The Nordbahnviertel district is located northwest of Vienna's city centre. Covering an area of 85 hectares, it is Vienna's largest and most important urban development area. The gradual conversion of the former railway site began back in the 1980s. Since the end of the 2000s, the urban development model for the site has been continuously implemented. The ‘Freie Mitte – Vielseitiger Rand’ (Free Centre – Versatile Edge) sub-area is the final construction project and is scheduled for completion by 2030.
To connect the central and south-eastern parts of the Nordbahnviertel district to the tram network, a new tram line was built and line 12 was introduced. In September 2025, after a 14-month construction phase, the 2.2 km long new line went into operation.
PohlCon supported the Wiener Linien GmbH & Co KG project with its FIBERNOX© V-ROD GRP reinforcement. This was used to reinforce the track base slab of the road-level track in electric points, enabling the forces and loads acting on it to be safely transferred to the subsoil. A total of over 3,200 kg of straight and curved GRP reinforcement was installed – equivalent to around 7,500 kg of conventional steel reinforcement – supplemented by FIBERNOX© V-ROD plastic spacers.
The glass fibre reinforced plastic reinforcement offers numerous advantages: thanks to its corrosion resistance, it is durable, maintenance-free and insensitive to road salt, for example. It is non-magnetic and non-conductive, which means that the return current generated by a tram can be dissipated in a controlled manner via the rail – with steel reinforcement, there is a risk of uncontrolled, stray currents. The GRP reinforcement enabled measuring cables to be laid in the road surface concrete to ensure the operation of electromagnetic measuring loops. The lower material weight also made handling easier during installation and accelerated the process.
The new line is another transport infrastructure project that relies on PohlCon's proven products and many years of expertise – something we find very gratifying.
