Moving the final roof section for the new passenger tunnel at Amsterdam Zuid station into position was far from the most complex job faced by the Nieuw-Zuid Construction Consortium (Mobilis, Boskalis, van Gelder). The roof section, weighing 1.5 million kg, only needed to be moved around 15 m to the north and there was also no need to close or restrict traffic on the A10 Zuid. But it was still a tense operation. View the time-lapse video below.
Limits exceeded
After moving the roof section the first 1.5 m on the morning of Tuesday, 26 November 2024, we were forced to bring the operation to a halt. This was a shame for the hundreds of interested people patiently watching our live webcam, but we had no other choice for safety reasons. The temporary support structure was being continually monitored by special equipment. Shortly after starting the move, this equipment signalled that certain limits had been exceeded and this temporary structure across which the resection was being pushed was potentially not sturdy enough. Just to be on the safe side, we halted everything. On that same day, structural engineers did some calculations to work out how it could all be reinforced. Ultimately, it took until around 22.00 in the evening to reinforce the structure.
Smoothly into position
On the next day, we were able to push the roof section smoothly into its final position within just a few hours. This was despite the rainy weather and the imminent autumn storm Conall. By 15.30, all seven roof sections of the new Brittenpassage were in their permanent position, making it possible for the temporary support structure also to be slowly dismantled.
Concrete work
In the meantime, all of the focus is now on the large amount of concrete work in the extra passenger tunnel. We are making good progress building the future bicycles storage facility on the north side and on the entrances to the new railway and metro platforms. The Brittenpassage is set to open in 2027 at the latest.
Four years of building work on the Brittenpassage roof
Moving the final roof section for the Brittenpassage can definitely be described as a landmark. Over a four-year period, we worked on the construction of the passageway roof, which consists of seven gigantic sheets of concrete. We previously pushed the other roof sections into position underneath the A10 Zuid, the metro and railway platforms. It was only this last summer when we moved a roof section under the most northerly metro track. The roof section that we just moved was built back in 2023, on our work site between the metro tracks. It was used as a temporary construction road, but it is now in the location where tracks 3 and 4 will be built in the future. This will ultimately form the tracks for line 52 (the North/South metro line), which currently terminates at Amsterdam Zuid station.
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