As Wiener Linien reported on Monday, they are currently fully on schedule. Work has been going on building the U5 and extending the U2 for around a year. The starting shot for this project was given in January. According to Günter Steinbauer, the managing director of Wiener Linien, this is a highly complex construction project that has not existed in this dimension since the construction of the U3 in the city center in the 1990s.
As part of the network expansion, the U2 will be extended to Matzleinsdorfer Platz. The new U5 will run between Karlsplatz and Frankhplatz – fully automatically and without a driver, using the previous U2 route from the town hall.
Half of the city is currently like a major construction site. Steinbauer emphasizes that they are right on schedule and that numerous construction milestones will be set in 2022. So far, 1400 bored piles have been sunk in the ground for this purpose, according to the “Kurier”. The bored piles serve as the basic structure of the new underground station. Another 1,300 bored piles have yet to be built. They want to be finished by mid-2022.
In addition, 25 to 35 meters deep will be dug for the stations. The platforms will later be located there. They want to get there next year. The diameter of the underground tunnel in the station area is ten meters. In the middle of next year, work is to start on Matzleinsdorfer Platz for the U2 station. In 2024, a huge drilling machine is to be installed, which will dig around six meters wide underground tunnel between the stations. However, tunnels will also be dug at Reichsstraße 2022. In spring it is the turn of the Schottentor station before digging towards Augustinplatz from October.
In addition, four stations are to be converted. Specifically, these are the stations at Karlsplatz, Museumsquartier, Volkstheater and Rathaus. These become U5 stations. In the area of these four stations, a 4.8 kilometer track was built for this purpose. Incidentally, the platforms are separated from the tracks with glass walls and doors. Passengers can use the four adapted stations from summer 2023, when the current closure of the U2 ends. A total of 700 people work on the subway construction sites. In addition, 60 companies are involved in the expansion of the subway.
