Just above the new Brittenpassage – the additional passenger tunnel for Amsterdam Zuid station – a protruding steel frame recently appeared. This is the enclosure that will house the staircases and lift that passengers will use to reach the metro platforms from the new passageway. In the weeks ahead we will be continuing work on the metro platforms, so that we can put the platform roofs in place in January 2026.
Platform edges
From the railway platform for track 4, it is already possible to see the (concrete) contours of the new metro platforms. But there is still some progress to be made: we first need to lay the concrete slabs that form the edges of the platforms. ‘The platform edges are very close to the metro trains, so you can’t work when they’re running past’, explains Zuidasdok’s construction manager Sjaak van den Hoek. ‘It’s slightly easier in the central section of the platforms, but even there the space is tight. We put the concrete slabs down there last week.’
15, 16, 29 and 30 November: reduced metro service
In order to build the edges of the metro platforms, there will be a reduced metro service during two weekends this month. This will be on 15/16 November and 29/30 November 2025. We will be taking each metro track out of service in turn, enabling us to work safely. There will be fewer metro trains running. The second enclosure (remember there are two metro platforms) will be built during three nights in November, ensuring that there will be no disruption to passengers.
Concrete pouring, columns and roofs
‘As soon as we have attached all of the edges, we can pour concrete on top. This will connect all of the slabs to form a whole. We’ll then work our away upwards’, says Van den Hoek. ‘We’ll start with the columns that will support the new platform roofs. These will be lifted into position in January 2026. They are the same roofs as for the new railway platforms, but slightly smaller. This is because of the size of the metro platforms.’ Once the roofs are in position, the Nieuw-Zuid construction consortium (Mobilis, Boskalis, Van Gelder) can start the finishing work on the platforms.
Finishing
What does the finishing work involve? ‘First, we still haven’t completed the floor: there’ll be a layer of sand on top of the concrete’, says Van den Hoek. ‘The permanent tiles will then be laid on top of that. Then there’s all the other things involved with finishing off the work on the platforms: fitting glass into the enclosures and putting up information signs for passengers, for example. Starting in April 2026, we will then build the final section of track for line 52 (the North/South line) which currently stops next to the Minervapassage.’
Opening of Brittenpassage
The new metro platforms are expected to be more or less completed around the summer of 2026, but they will not be put into use at that stage. That time will come when the Brittenpassage actually opens, in 2027 at the latest. That is when we are closing the existing passenger tunnel (the Minervapassage) in order to thoroughly renovate it and the existing (temporary) metro platforms will no longer be accessible.
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