On the morning of Wednesday, 29 January 2025, when the trains resumed their normal timetable for the first time in 11 days, the people at the Nieuw-Zuid Construction Consortium (Mobilis, Boskalis and Van Gelder) were able to breathe a sigh of relief. They had completed a formidable task. They had been working night and day on the construction of two entrances from the new Brittenpassage to the railway platform serving tracks 3 and 4.
Walk-on glass
Whereas, in the past, the construction of the Brittenpassage has primarily been something happening underneath the A10 and the railway and metro tracks, railway passengers are now actually getting to know what we are building. On the railway platform, two glass enclosures have appeared, with a platform floor made of walk-on glass in-between them. This glass floor is intended to provide the passageway with natural daylight. This helps make people feel safer while also making it easy for passengers to find their way to the entrances.
Stairway/escalator and lift
In the glass enclosure furthest to the west (closest to Parnassusweg), there will be a stairway together with a lift on the same side. The glass enclosure on the east will feature a stairway and an escalator. In the middle of the glass floor, there is an open space, measuring around 5 to 4 m. From behind a balustrade, passengers waiting on the platform can peer into the Brittenpassage. Above the enclosures and the glass floor, a platform roof will be added, in order to protect passengers and the Brittenpassage from the rain.
‘It all ran very smoothly’, says construction manager Sjaak van den Hoek. ‘Of course, some things didn’t happen quite as we envisaged, but that’s always the case. For example, the frames in which the walk-on glass sheets were meant to be positioned weren’t a perfect fit. We were able to make the necessary adjustments in time.’ For the first time for ages, work was not done at the weekend or during the holiday, but actually during the period when Amsterdam Zuid station is in full operation, normally handling many tens of thousands of passengers every day. ‘During the last few days, that was really noticeable, because track 3 was back in use again’, says Van den Hoek. ‘The Intercity Direct, that has been running between Amersfoort and Breda since mid-December, actually ended up stopping several times at rush hour right next to our work, which meant that passengers getting off had to walk past it. It wasn’t unsafe, but definitely not ideal. When we’re doing the same work on the platform for tracks 1 and 2 in March, NS have informed us that this train will continue further in an easterly direction.’
The other platform
We will be carrying out the same works on the platform for tracks 1 and 2. These works (together with some others) will be done from 01.00 on Wednesday, 12 March until 05.00 on Wednesday, 26 March. Trains will again run a reduced timetable. We will provide more details in due course.
Regeneration of Amsterdam Zuid station
Amsterdam Zuid station is bursting at the seams. In order to be able to process the growing number of passengers, we are building an additional entrance: the Brittenpassage. It will be 15 m wide and feature shops and a bicycle park. As soon as the Brittenpassage is open, by 2027 at the latest, major work will begin on the existing passageway: the Minervapassage. This is being widened from 12 to 40 m and will have shops and amenities on both sides. The regeneration of Amsterdam Zuid station is part of Zuidasdok.
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