Significant progress is now being made on the construction of the roof of the new Brittenpassage. The roof of the additional passenger tunnel at Amsterdam Zuid station consists of seven gigantic sheets of concrete, three of which are already in position underneath the railway and metro tracks. In August 2023, we will also be moving the fourth and fifth roof sections – that are ready and waiting on our work site in Arnold Schönberglaan – into position. For that to happen, the south side of the A4 and A10 Zuid will be closed for eight days. After that, there are only two more roof sections for the Brittenpassage to go. The sixth roof section, that will ultimately be underneath metro 52 (North/South line), is currently being built at its final location.
Reinforcing and pouring 500 m³ of concrete
Between the metro tracks, the Nieuw-Zuid construction consortium has already been working for several weeks on the steel reinforcements for the concrete sheet that will soon weigh a million kilogrammes. Cable ducting is also being added to enable us to use cables to tension the roof section later on. This tensioning will enable the roof section to support an even heavier load. This matters, because it will have to sustain huge pressure from metro trains accelerating and braking. Before we pull the cables through the cable ducting, we first build the formwork and pour 500 m³ of concrete for the roof section. When the concrete has hardened, we can power-float the roof section: smoothing and flattening the sheet.
Seventh and final roof section for Brittenpassage
Although we are building the roof section in its final position, we will be moving it slightly to the south when it is ready. This will create space on the north side for the construction of the final and most northern roof section for the Brittenpassage. In the future, this will be underneath the tracks of metros 50 and 51, travelling in the direction of Isolatorweg (for those interested: see map, track M2). Moving the roof section that we are currently building several metres south also serves another purpose: In this position, it will serve as a temporary bridge for construction traffic driving from Parnassusweg onto and off the construction site between the metro tracks. After the summer, we will begin excavating the Brittenpassage, also underneath this temporary bridge. The construction site will still need to remain accessible and construction traffic will need a robust road to reach it.
End of August: excavation of Brittenpassage
Before we can start excavating the Brittenpassage, we will be moving the fourth and fifth roof sections on the south side of the passageway to their position, between 5 and 14 August. These will be underneath railway track 1 and future tracks 5 and 6. At the end of August, we will start excavating from Arnold Schönberglaan, at which point the contours of the new passenger tunnel will become visible for the first time. In the period up to January 2024, we expect to move a total of 50,000 m³ of sand, reaching underneath the tracks of metro 50 in the direction of Gein and 51 in the direction of Amsterdam Central (see map: track M1). According to the current schedule, we will then be able to move both of the final two northern roof sections slightly to the north towards their final position in the summer of 2024. That will mark a real milestone, because the construction of the Brittenpassage roof will be more or less complete after years of work. After that, excavation work from the north side can start. The Brittenpassage is set to open in 2027 at the latest.
What will the new passenger tunnel look like?
The Brittenpassage will have staircases, escalators and lifts to the metro and railway platforms. There will also be more shops and a supervised bicycle park. Cyclists will be able to enter the bicycle park via Parnassusweg before heading to their train or metro via the Brittenpassage. On the north side of the passageway, there will be a bus station and a tram station on the south side.
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