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Alliance between Amsterdam municipality and Yunex Traffic/Heijmans
The combination Yunex Traffic (formerly Siemens Mobility ITS)/Heijmans is to work in alliance with the City of Amsterdam to build the
Piet Hein Tunnel renovation in Amsterdam. Yunex Traffic is part of Siemens Mobility and specializes in
technical solutions in infrastructure in the Netherlands. Implementation of the renovation started in late June 2021, will continue through September 2022 and falls within the program "Aanpak Wegtunnels Amsterdam," abbreviated "AWA.
Inaugurated in 1997, the Piet Hein Tunnel is a main artery of Amsterdam's road network. This tunnel connects the center of Amsterdam with Zeeburgereiland and the A10 ring road. After almost 25 years of intensive use (30,000 vehicles per day), the tunnel is in need of renovation. In addition, the Piet Hein Tunnel must fully comply with safety legislation (Additional Road Tunnel Safety Regulations Act). We speak with Renard Kox and Leon Turmaine, both working for Yunex Traffic, in the respective positions of assistant design manager for the City of Amsterdam and assistant design manager, also Renard's right-hand man.
"The City of Amsterdam, Yunex Traffic and Heijmans will completely renew and expand the existing installations and systems in the tunnel and its controls," Renard opens the conversation. "Also, major maintenance will be carried out on the civil and structural parts." Renard is responsible for the entire design team, revolving around issues such as civil works, communications, controls and installations. "We are working on a consistent, integral design, together with Denis Walraven, who is ultimately responsible for the design team from the municipality," Renard says. To which Leon adds, "Currently I am making the link to execution, together with Heijmans."
The 1997 installations in the Piet Hein Tunnel no longer meet current standards. "Legislation has changed, therefore the systems need to be raised to a higher level," said Renard. "In the renovation, AWA is aiming for more 'redundancy' and less interdependence between the systems. Partly for this reason, the design will be even more modular, so that future work will cause significantly less disruption to traffic. Fire resistance must also be increased; the joints and sheet piling will be provided with heat-resistant cladding. The installations have reached the end of their lifespan and are being renewed, according to a design that complies with legislation and the requirements of the municipality."
Leon outlines the method of modular construction: "We define sections, which are determined around the escape doors. Each section covers about 100 meters and gets its own design, which is identical to the other sections. Totally modular, in other words. The advantage is that there is no longer a question of different parts, and maintenance, service or repair can therefore be done with a limited stock of spare parts and always impacts only one section, rather than the entire tunnel. The strength is in the repetition so, therefore, the quality goes up and everything is more maintainable. Each section gets an identical control box, this is not the cheapest solution if we look at the purchase cost, but in the long run it is more advantageous."
Renard adds: "This practice is also a blueprint for AWA as more tunnels are renovated. Escape doors are in every tunnel, so sectioning can be done anywhere." Leon: "In fact, the longer the tunnel is, the more advantageous the sectioning approach becomes."
Within the project, the "Best for Project" approach is used and no "scopesplit" was agreed upon. Renard explains: "With this, what is best for the project is considered per sub-activity. Within Yunex Traffic's field are things like operation and control, network, auxiliary post boxes, lane signals, traffic detection, air quality meters, fans and differential pressure gauges between the traffic pipe and the service corridor. The latter system is used to create excess pressure in the service corridor, necessary to ensure that no smoke or gas can enter the service corridor in the event of a fire or the escape of gases in an emergency. That pressure has to be just right, quite a job over 1.5 kilometers. Another special feature of the Piet Hein tunnel is that it does not have sliding doors, but hinged doors. These doors must therefore be pushed against the air pressure when they open, and to make that easier, a mechanical opening aid will be placed on the doors, a solution that comes from the maritime sector. All installations are located in the service corridor."
In addition to the work inside the tunnel, work is also taking place outside the tunnel. Leon lists, "Think of barriers and the link with the VTI (traffic technical installation). Work for the new traffic control center is also part of the approach. At the tunnel there is also the local control point, a copy of the control point at the traffic center. The operator thus monitors and operates at the central traffic control center of the municipality of Amsterdam, with a local backup operating location at the tunnel, in service building West. This is a ready standby location and can be called in as needed."
Yunex Traffic uses an interactive digital tunnel twin. Renard: "This is a 3D model of the tunnel with the functionality of all the new installations, including the environment. This is linked to the new tunnel control software and the new workstation for operating and monitoring the tunnel and then makes it possible to simulate all kinds of scenarios in the renovated tunnel very accurately even before the renovation. This allows you to accurately test the functional behavior of the tunnel. This reduces costs, shortens lead time and increases efficiency. We are talking about two phases with the Digital Twin.
The first stage is the physical Digital Twin, a control point to which equipment is physically connected. With this you test whether the hardware is doing its job properly, including the interface between the control and the hardware. The second phase is a Digital Twin with simulated hardware, using the SIMIT software package developed by Siemens. This allows you to perform a virtual test without hardware, test automation applications in a virtual environment and train a tunnel controller in a realistic but safe environment. So in phase 1 you test one lamp physically and in phase 2 you can virtually test 100 of them."
Phase three involves a testing framework for the software. "Couple SIMIT with the controller and you have a field simulation and also couple the controller with the 3D visualization, which allows you to test very realistic integral scenarios. It also allows you to simulate camera images. For example, it is possible to look at the equipment in the tunnel from the viewpoint of the road user. It is also possible to see from the camera whether the camera position is optimal."
According to Renard, the cooperation between Yunex Traffic/Heijmans within the alliance is good and pleasant. "Working in alliance form works well and what helps is that Yunex Traffic and Heijmans already know each other from a similar form of cooperation. We have already done the King's Tunnel together in the same set-up and can now implement the 'lessons learned'. All parties are open and transparent, there is a lot of fun at work and a big favor factor on both sides. Working Best for Project creates an ideal division of labor. For example, Heijmans is responsible for the cables, pipes, lighting, energy and communication systems. Within VTTI, we handle the operation and control, traffic installations, mechanical installations and system engineering. We thus act as integrator," says Renard.
Leon adds, "We try to ensure alignment between the three collaborating parties, which does involve three different corporate cultures. We find because of the different corporate cultures that it is necessary to provide a lot of guidance and instruction on processes. However, so far this is running successfully because we pay a lot of attention to individual colleagues and are open and honest in communication."
