Minimum disruption, maximum effectiveness

"Station renovations are handled by us completely turnkey with minimum disruption and maximum effectiveness. And that throughout the Netherlands, from Leeuwarden to Eijsden (South Limburg) and from Bad Nieuweschans to Vlissingen.

Van Ooijen Gouda has been in existence for seventy years and is active in two branches: railinfra and asphalt-related road construction, including paving, sewerage and foundations. "The railinfra division focuses on all civil works along the railroad. In many cases this work interfaces with platforms, but we also construct and maintain inspection paths, install fencing and build bicycle parking facilities in station squares," Eijkelenboom explains. "Primarily on ProRail territory (Heavy Rail), but in recent years we have also been increasingly active for Light Rail clients. For example, we recently renovated 23 stops on the SUNIJ light rail line on behalf of the province of Utrecht. In eight weeks we demolished and rebuilt 46 platforms non-stop (16 hours a day)." 

Fantastic team of people

According to Eijkelenboom, what is the reason that Van Ooijen Gouda is in the leading group of platform construction in the Netherlands? "Besides understanding technology, we have three strong qualities. The first is an understanding of logistics. A rail infrastructure project requires good logistical planning. So much has to be done in a short period of time. We cannot afford for our people to miss out on site. Secondly, we are lucky to have a fantastic team of people who are not afraid to work nights and weekends. Our work takes place almost exclusively when the train is not running. The third characteristic we are incredibly adept at is following a high and strict safety regime for working along the tracks. These three facets contribute to the fact that we can sometimes renew an entire platform in a very short time (a weekend out of service of only 52 hours). That is a big task. But through very thorough preparation, we manage to do a huge mountain of work with a relatively small club."

Multi-day field trips

Besides during weekend out-of-service periods, Van Ooijen Gouda also regularly contributes to even bigger projects for which a 9-day out-of-service period is planned. "We are then working non-stop 24 hours a day during that period," says Willem Meulman, senior project manager for rail infrastructure at Van Ooijen. "Rebuilding a platform usually involves much more than just replacing the tiles and retaining walls. Equipment, lighting, public address system and fencing are usually replaced as well. So it's quite an organization. For example, during a nine-day outage in 2019 we completely dismantled and rebuilt four stations on the Gouda - Alphen aan den Rijn railroad line, with the additional challenge of station Waddinxveen Noord, of which even all the foundation piles were replaced.   

At the end of this year, we are conducting a similar operation for the Veenendaal, Veenendaal West and Rhenen stations. In addition to the preparation and execution, we are also handling the design in-house. That makes us stronger in the preparation, so that everything is neatly arranged and the execution runs like clockwork."

Platforms on Standard

Since the middle of last year, ProRail has contracted out the renewal of platforms to four contractors under a single framework agreement called Platforms to Standard. This is a contract in which various stations must be upgraded to the right standard so that disabled people can use the train independently. Previously, this was done through various tenders. Van Ooijen Gouda is one of those four parties. An important point in the tender was an incentive to use sustainable concrete as much as possible. ProRail uses the Environmental Cost Indicator (EQI) to measure and monitor how this ambition is achieved. The goal is to reduce environmental costs by four percent per year as agreed in the concrete agreement. "We are taking this a step further and have entered into a partnership with Bosch Beton, the market leader in precast retaining walls and known for its extremely sustainable production process," said Eijkelenboom. "Bosch Beton did not yet produce retaining walls for ProRail. Together, we have now developed an extremely sustainable product that we use for new contracts. In addition, we use circular concrete tiles that consist of old tiles for 76%."

Much of Van Ooijen Gouda's work involves platform renovations. "We are really adept at that, but we are also regularly called in for smaller(er) jobs, such as the replacement of guide rail, of equipment or for an extension of a platform or modification to a bicycle parking facility on ProRail territory. In addition, over the past four years we have installed many dozens of kilometers of fencing in accordance with the framework specifications of anti-suicide programs, we renew inspection paths and asphalt level crossings. We also install noise barriers and culverts under the tracks. In short, a very wide variety of work. We do not perform any work on the track or overhead lines ourselves, but it is sometimes part of our contract, which we outsource to subcontractors. We bear the final responsibility with a focus on minimum disruption and maximum effectiveness," concludes Eijkelenboom.