Amsterdam metro line

Our client
Amsterdam is a densely populated city with an historic centre. An increasing number of people wish to travel around within this cosmopolitan city. In 2002, on the instructions of the municipality, the construction of the North/South line began. This 9.5 kilometre line will link Amsterdam North with Amsterdam South.

Our Work
Together was another company in the same sector, Van Oord Nederland is constructing the tunnel for the tracks under the existing historic Amsterdam Central Station. The main hall for the new Amsterdam CS metro station is being built under the square in front of the railway station. The platforms will be approximately 15 metres below street level. With 62,500 passengers a day, the Central Station is currently the largest public transport hub in the Netherlands. The station will remain operational during the construction of the new metro hall.

A construction pit stretching from the River IJ to the square was created under the tracks and the historic station. For this purpose, two rows of large steel tubes with a diameter of 1.80 metres were being submerged up to 65 metres deep. The space between has been excavated. When the construction pit was ready, a single 130-metre tunnel element was floated in from the River IJ and sunk.

Van Oord is also involved as a subcontractor for the excavations of three future metro stations in the city centre: Rokin, Vijzelgracht and Ceintuurbaan. These are referred to as the deep stations, where platforms are being constructed varying from 21 metres to 26 metres below street level. The underground excavation of these stations using special earth moving techniques was competed in 2011.

Our results
The new metro link with eight stations is expected to be ready in 2017. In the future, approximately 200,000 will use the North/South metro line every day.

For more information, go to www.noordzuidlijn.amsterdam.nl.