At a comfortable distance of 146 km from busy Amsterdam Zuid station, steel construction company Buiting Staalbouw has been working for months on the new platform roof for the railway platforms. On a sun-drenched afternoon, we turn right into the industrial estate. Just before we go inside via the main entrance, our photographer Marcel beams as he points to a massive mock-up to the left of the building. ‘That must be it there.’
Gigantic roof
The mock-up consists of an enclosure for the stairway and lift, with a platform roof on top of it. It looks much more solid and taller than the existing roof at Amsterdam Zuid station. ‘That’s right, and you can only see half of the roof from here. Ultimately, there’ll be another section next to it that mirrors this one, making it a full 6 m in width’, says Buiting Staalbouw’s commercial manager Jurgen Exterkate, as we arrive inside. ‘The roof will also be 6 m tall, almost twice the height of the existing 3.5 m roof.’
13-16 June: serious disruption on the south side of Amsterdam
In the weekend of 13 to 16 June, road users and railway passengers face major disruption partly because of the lifting into position of the platform roof. The A10 Zuid will be almost completely closed in the direction of Utrecht/Hengelo. No trains will be running via Amsterdam Zuid station on 14 and 15 June.
3D design
In order to build it, Exterkate first converted the Zuidasdok design into a 3D model. ‘That enables you to see at a glance whether everything fits together properly. And equally importantly: the digital simulation ensures that our people in the factory know exactly what they need to build and how they should fit the different components together on location.’
Remote construction
The original plan was to build the platform roof in situ, next to Amsterdam Zuid station, but this was not possible logistically. The work site would have only been available for around a month to build the platform roof, whereas it is easily five months’ work. Remote construction was the only option. ‘But of course we knew that, ultimately, more than 350 tonnes of steel, insulation and roof covering would also have to make the journey to Amsterdam’, says Exterkate. This is the job that Buiting now faces.
Convoy
During the night from Friday 13 to Saturday 14 June, a convoi exceptionnel will set off with half of the 22 sections that make up the platform roof – each of them 16.5 m long, 6 m wide and weighing 13,000 kg. The second half will follow on the next night. By then, the A10 Zuid will already be closed to traffic in the direction of Utrecht/Hengelo: from 22.00 on the evening of Friday 13 June. We will rapidly set up two telescopic cranes, each weighing 650 tonnes. These will be used to hoist the sections, weighing 13 tonnes, from the motorway to their position on the railway platform between tracks 3 and 4.
Immediate lifting
There is not enough space to store the components when they arrive – they will be immediately lifted from the trucks by crane, across the platform that serves railway tracks 1 and 2. They will then need to be assembled. ‘Everything is determined by the logistics’, explains Exterkate. ‘Making steel is one thing, but getting everything to the right place and assembled on schedule is a bit more complex.’
Live spectacle: platform roof hoisted into position LAST FEW PLACES
Would you like to see the lifting of the platform roof with your very own eyes? If so, come along to this construction spectacle on 14 June. From a special location, you will be able to see how huge cranes lift the platform roof section by section into position from the A10. You will also be briefed on what is happening.
Register quickly for one of the last few places on 14 June
The construction spectacle is part of our extensive programme during Zuidas FutureFest (ToekomstTiendaagse).
New platform roofs for railway and metro
During the weekend of 14 and 15 June, a 140 m platform roof will be fitted. This is not the whole of the railway platform: we are building above the new Brittenpassage, up to the existing roof. This has already been shortened to create space. In October, we will do the same on the railway platform for tracks 1 and 2. When the Brittenpassage opens by 2027, the existing station entrance – the Minervapassage – will be closed to enable us to widen it. We will then demolish the existing platform roof and also fit the new one there – including solar panels that will power the lighting and information systems and green areas intended to store water. The total length of the two railway platform roofs will then be around 300 m per roof.
At the same time, we will build new platform roofs for the adjacent metro platforms. These will be fitted between the end of 2025 and mid-2026.
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