A huge tunnel has been inserted in one piece underneath the Central Station in Amsterdam. The tunnel is 136 metres long, 22 metres wide, and weighs 20,000 tonnes. It’s part of the construction of a new underground line linking the north of Amsterdam to the south.
The pre-fabricated tunnel was floated towards the station from the other side, where the building faces the IJ River. When the line is completed, it will cross both the river and the railway station. The tunnel section underneath the station building is one of the most challenging in the metro construction project.
It’s the first time that a pre-fab tunnel has been placed under an historic Dutch building. It took 9 years to prepare for today’s operation. Engineers had to remove 3000 wooden piles from under the central part of the 19th century station edifice in order to place the tunnel, which resembles a kind of concrete table.
The complex operation took 10 hours to complete.
The North-South line was originally due to have been completed this year. A series of major problems has delayed completion of the project till 2017 at the earliest. The underground line is also expected to cost 3.1 billion euros, twice as much as originally estimated.
(eb/rk)
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