Station roof 15.7 m to the north, 4.928 m above sea level

Anyone who looks upwards as they pass through the metro access gates in the passageway at Amsterdam Zuid station will see a blue sky on fine days. Or grey, of course. But, from 5 August, that will no longer be possible, because the roof of the passageway, the Minervapassage, will then be closed again. That is the day when we will be moving the last-but-one section of the new roof into position. (And it’s not simply a case of pushing it into place, as you will find out below). A week earlier, on 29 July, we will do the same thing for the future second station passageway at Amsterdam Zuid station: the Brittenpassage.

On the lower roof section, we have placed six steel beams – the first part of a runner. On top of that, is the new roof section for the Minervapassage. On 5 August, we will be moving it from the section underneath it around 16 m to the north. Before that, we will extend the six yellow beams to create a complete runner supported by foundation piles. This will provide us with enough space to use four small hydraulic cylinder jacks to move the deck slightly in order to create space for four larger jacks (the heaviest weighing around 1,000 kg). They will then push the deck in short spurts to the north to its final destination, parallel to the A10. During the move, there will be a cable to measure the distance from the jacks using sensors. This enables us to check that the deck is moving at the same rate across the whole of the runner.

The temporary supports appear as if they have been inspired by the popular game Jenga. In order to lower the deck, we will remove the steel beams layer by layer. Before that, we will use the jacks to support the two outermost beams enabling us to remove the two beams in the centre (after briefly lifting the deck). We will then turn things around: the jacks will be on the outside, enabling us to remove the two beams left in the centre. We will then repeat this for each layer, until the bottom of the deck reaches 4.928 m above sea level. It will then be at the same height as the deck next to it. It will also be at the height required to raise the height of the roof of the Minervapassage from 2.5 m to 4 m – just like under the railway tracks.

Once the two roof sections are finally in place, we will put back in place the northern metro track that we previously removed. This is the second step in the process of bringing all of the metro and railway tracks to the right height: the North/South line platform has already been raised in height. In 2025, we will raise the height of the final, most southerly metro track. By then, all of the tracks at the station will be at the same height, and we can continue work on the regeneration of Amsterdam Zuid station. This is because all of the metro platforms that have been raised are temporary only. We will be building new metro platforms between the existing Minervapassage and the new Brittenpassage. The Brittenpassage is set to open by 2027 at the latest, after which we will be able to continue to extend the Minervapassage, and this is scheduled to be completed by 2031.