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The section we moved into position was a relatively modest monster: weighing around 630,000 kg. The Nieuw-Zuid construction consortium (Mobilis, Boskalis and van Gelder) has faced more onerous tasks in the past. We previously had to move sheets of concrete weighing half a million kilograms. The distance involved was also manageable: 14 m to the north. Some of the previous roof sections had to be moved three times as far. But still. It certainly makes a fascinating spectacle.

View the time-lapse video

After preparing the steel reinforcement, we poured the concrete for this final roof section in November 2023. After further preparations in the lead-up to summer, it was ready to be moved into position, underneath the metro track used by lines 50 and 51 in the direction of Isolatorweg. Demolition work on this metro track started on 6 July, partly in readiness for the move.

Once the yellow ‘slides’ were in place, the big move could start, just before 09.00 on 29 July. Before noon on the same day, the roof section was in place, right next to the A10. It was a memorable moment, because the whole of the roof of the Brittenpassage is now in position. With just one little job to be done.

‘A small job’

There is one final roof section, the sixth one, that is not yet completely in position. We built it in the summer of 2023 to go under metro tracks 3 and 4. These will ultimately form the tracks for line 52 (the North/South metro line), which currently terminates at Amsterdam Zuid station, but could be extended in the future. We also need one of the two tracks in order to return the metro trains back to the railyard next to Amstelveenseweg at the end of their service. We removed these two metro tracks because we needed the space to build the Brittenpassage roof. Since there were no metro tracks, we were able to build this section of the roof more or less in its final position. ‘More or less’ because this section is not yet fully where it should be. It has been used as a temporary construction road leading to the works on the existing passageway: the Minervapassage. We still need to move this sixth roof section slightly towards the north.

The construction road alongside the track is the roof section that still needs to move slightly to the left

View from Brittenstraat to Van Beinumstraat

When this job is done, the roof of the Brittenpassage will be complete. After five years of work, it is now possible to see all the way from the south side (Benjamin Brittenstraat, named after the same person as the Brittenpassage) to the north side (Eduard van Beinumstraat), right underneath all of the railway and metro tracks and the A10 carriageways. The first section was inserted into position underneath railway tracks 2 and 3 in November 2019. The second and third roof sections disappeared underneath railway track 4 and metro track 1 in August 2021. The fourth and fifth roof sections were placed underneath railway track 1 and under the A10 in August 2023 – in preparation for a fifth and sixth railway track. We can now proceed full steam ahead with the finishing work on the passageway. The Brittenpassage is scheduled to open by 2027 at the latest.

Guided tours
Later this year, we hope to be able to organise guided tours through the Brittenpassage. Of course, this will only be possible when it is safe and does not disrupt the work. We will update you when we know more.

The Brittenpassage, from the south side to the north side

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