Erasmusbrug closed after overhead tram cabling collapses

An overhead view of the bridge with the cable support lying on the ground at one end.
Photo: Danny de Vries
An overhead view of the bridge with the cable support lying on the ground at one end.
Photo: Danny de Vries

The Erasmusbrug in Rotterdam is likely to be closed for several days after a girder carrying overhead tram cables collapsed while the bridge was open.

Witness Danny de Vries described hearing a loud bang after the bridge was lowered just after 10am on Monday. ‘I saw part of the structure fall down. Now it’s lying on the tramway,’ he told RTV Rijnmond.

Nobody was injured in the incident. A tram driver who was waiting to cross the bridge at the time said he felt the ‘whole bridge shaking’ as the cable structure came down.

The bridge has been closed to cars and trams while the incident is being investigated. Ships are also be unable to pass beneath and are being diverted.

The 800 metre-long bridge was opened in 1996 and usually carries more than 32,000 vehicles a day.

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