Pedestrian bridges on the bridge over the Vltava in Prague below Vyšehrad are attached to the supporting structure of a double-track railway bridge, that replaced the old single-track in 1901. The construction of the railway bridge (Railway Administration s.o.) and footbridges (TSK) are beyond the expected service life. In December 2017, the emergency condition of the footbridges was already so advanced that they had to be closed and the connection between Smíchov and Výtoň for pedestrians and cyclists was replaced by a ferry.
The footbridges are lined on both sides of the railway bridge outside the lattice double-walled main girders with a curved (arched) upper belt. The metal brackets of the footbridges are always located at the vertical point of the main girder of the railway bridge. The riveted lattice brackets have a curved lower strip - an ellipse and carry longitudinal metal beams on which a wooden floor made of bridges is mounted. The footbridges are complemented by a double-sided railing - the outer side with a decorative railing, the inner side is formed by frames with mesh. Below the walking area, a number of engineering networks run on the footbridge consoles, including a medium-pressure gas pipeline located on both sides.
Individual branches of the gas pipeline can be excluded from operation only outside the heating season, so the repair of one of the footbridges could only begin in the spring of 2018. The other of the footbridges was repaired outside the heating season the following year. Work platforms were mounted under the footbridges by means of a ship. From them, the old metal structure was blasted and then it was determined which elements of the individual brackets will be replaced completely or partially by new ones. As it is a technical cultural monument, the exchanged replicas of the elements were re-riveted to the other parts. The external railings and access stairs on Výtoň were also repaired, and the wooden floor and internal railings were replaced. The service life of the new coating of metal structures of footbridges will probably be longer than the existence of load-bearing structures of the railway bridge, which are to be replaced by a three-track bridge in the near future according to the plan of the Railway Administration.
