The new Hammerbrücke viaduct was built on the common section of the railway line from Liege to Aachen and Cologne and on the eastern branch of the Belgian high-speed line. The built was built between 1999 and 2000, to replace an old viaduct, which had suffered severely from partial demolition during the wars of the last century because of its geographical location. Although the bridge is part of the high-speed line, the design speed is limited to 160 km/h due to the track curves and its location near to the German border.