Successful Renovation at Amsterdam Central Station Thanks to Strong Collaboration
Renovating the more than 100-year-old steel structure beneath the tracks on the IJ side of Amsterdam Central Station in just 180 days? It seemed impossible. At a busy hub where trains keep running and passengers keep flowing. With the intense time pressure of an out-of-service period and the surprises that come with renovation work. Yet ProRail and BAM Infra Nederland managed to pull it off together. It all came down to good organisation, smart planning and, above all, solid teamwork and quick decision-making.
After 100 years, the steel structure beneath tracks 14 and 15 and platforms 5 and 6—the IJ viaduct—at Amsterdam Central Station was due for a major overhaul. It had been encased in concrete, making it difficult to assess its exact condition beforehand. “Only about 20 per cent of the potential work was known in advance,” explains Esther Versteegh, construction manager at ProRail. “The true state of the viaduct only became clear after the concrete and brickwork were removed. Close collaboration was essential to manage that high level of uncertainty and the surprises that came with it.” Especially given the extreme time pressure of the out-of-service period, during which tracks could not be used and there was virtually no room for delays. After all, trains needed to run over these tracks again as quickly as possible
