Hohenzollern Bridge in Cologne German Rail denies that it plans to remove all love locks
Köln · The news sent out some shockwaves on Monday: German Rail had confirmed to GA that all the love locks would be removed from the Hohenzollern Bridge in Cologne. Now it denies that there are plans to remove all the locks in the next few years.
So will the love locks remain on Cologne’s Hohenzollern Bridge? The news came yesterday that all the locks would be removed. Deutsche Bahn (German Rail) had initially confirmed this to GA on Monday evening. On Tuesday morning, however, when asked again, a spokeswoman from German Rail denied that there were any plans to remove the love locks from the Hohenzollern Bridge in the next few years. Asked whether the locks would possibly be removed in the years to come, the German Rail spokeswoman said she could not answer that question at this time.
On Monday, the news that all of the love locks would be removed, sent out shockwaves. A spokeswoman from German Rail had confirmed to GA on Monday evening that the love locks would have to give way. And not because of the weight - it is estimated that the locks weigh 40 to 45 tons - rather to protect the fence on the bridge from corrosion.
"The fence has to be completely renewed and all the locks have to be removed, because if this continues, there will soon be no fence," the spokeswoman said on Monday. Due to the vibrations of the locks on the fence each time a train passes, the protection against corrosion is severely damaged. On Monday evening, the spokeswoman could not yet say exactly when the locks would be removed. Also unclear was what would happen with the locks. Discussions would still have to take place with city officials.
Already at the beginning of the month, the city of Cologne had some locks removed for safety reasons. Some padlocks extended quite far into the pedestrian and bike path. If there were some that became a source of danger, because they were self-welded and sharp-edged, the city would have to intervene.
(Orig. text: Laszlo Scheuch, Anna-Maria Beekes / Translation: ck)
