Working along railroad tracks is serious business. Accuracy, efficiency and safety are key. Reason enough for VolkerRail and Visser & Smit Hanab to join forces under the Volker Stevin Kabelwerken Railinfra VOF, or VSKR for short, which combines VolkerRail's specific knowledge of track construction, signaling and overhead lines with Visser & Smit Hanab's underground infrastructure and cable knowledge. A unique combination by Dutch standards.

Within VSKR, VolkerRail's specific knowledge of rail construction, signaling and overhead lines, among other things, is combined with Visser & Smit Hanab's underground infrastructure and cable knowledge.

"As contract forms change, so do the tasks of rail contractors," begins Andrea Treurniet. "Integrated contract forms are more and more commonplace at ProRail. Rail contractors have to conform to that. This means that we need to think much more up front about how we can demonstrate at the back end that what has been promised has been realized correctly. As a rail contractor, we have certainly made great strides in recent years in the area of digitizing processes, thus bridging the gap between what happens outside on site and inside the office."

As a rail contractor, VSKR is making great strides in the area of digitizing processes, bridging the gap between what happens outside on site and inside the office.

Digitizing

VSKR occupies Step 4 on the Safety Ladder. "As Andrea also mentioned, we are trying to digitize more and more," says her colleague Sjoerd de Ruiter. "Much is recorded by our employees via an app on the tablet or smartphone. Also possible unsafe situations. We are a transparent and open organization and have no secrets from each other. Recording potentially unsafe situations allows us to do the work a little more efficiently and safely every day." Andrea adds: "In addition, in the app, all reports, forms and checklists are easy for our employees to fill out. We've made quite a splash in that over the past few years. All that information is available directly inside the office and can be quickly forwarded in the right form to the client for interim evaluations and information sharing, for example. The possibilities in the app are constantly being expanded."

The unique combination of rail expertise allows VSKR to attract many fine projects to itself.

Communication with all stakeholders

The unique combination of rail expertise allows Volker Stevin Kabelwerken Railinfra to take on many great projects. "For example, we are currently working in Zwolle on renewing and expanding the railway yard," says Sjoerd. "Here our combined knowledge comes in handy nicely because of the fact that both new (cleaning) platforms are being built and the complete cable work is being renewed. A big project for all of VolkerWessels by the way." The conversion of the Amstelveen Line also falls within the scope of VSKR. Andrea: "A completely different environment than on the closed site in Zwolle. Here we are dealing with an awful lot of stakeholders and each party has its own interests. The same often applies to the regular renewals and planned annual maintenance activities of client ProRail to which we contribute. These are often activities that have to fit within a very tight schedule. Different disciplines have to coincide exactly in a weekend or sometimes only a few hours within an out-of-service period. This is when the power of VSKR really comes into its own."