Elevator facilities for Den Helder-Zuid station

This as part of ProRail's ambition to have all stations in the Netherlands accessible to people with functional disabilities (visual, auditory and motor) by 2030.

Everyone in the Netherlands should be able to travel by train independently, ProRail believes, including people with disabilities. This must be achieved by 2030. To achieve this ambition, ProRail has put two contracts (ramps and elevators) on the market through a fourth Tranche, of which K_Dekker has taken on the elevator contract. "We are realizing the elevator facilities of nine smaller train stations," said project manager Rob van 't Hoff. "Bloemendaal station has now been completed, Tilburg is nearing completion and Den Helder-Zuid is on schedule."

Work in Den Helder

What does the work in Den Helder consist of for K_Dekker? An existing pedestrian and bicycle tunnel runs under the tracks there, connecting two neighborhoods. Right next to it, the contractor has constructed an elevator shaft on both sides of the tracks, so that the platforms can now be reached not only by stairs but also by elevator. Superintendent Dick Hendrikse: "The construction pits containing the concrete work, the civil engineering part, have now been completed. We realized this structural work by applying sheet pile walls, underwater concrete, a vertical injection and a small pumping station. Furthermore, the building pit was dug, dried, and the reinforcement and concrete work were applied. All the concrete has been poured on site, only on the steel walkway to be assembled will there be precast concrete slabs." The steel structures, consisting of walkways, railings, elevator shafts (fitted with glass) will be assembled until mid-March 2019, after which the elevator installation will be installed by a third party.

Challenging project

A special project, Van 't Hoff calls it. "A UAV-Gc contract in its purest form. Based on ProRail's requirements, we provided our own solutions for the stations. Together with the architect and the engineering firm, we created a design and the corresponding estimates. The designs were worked out using the BIM philosophy. A challenge!" The same goes for the decommissioning of the track. In order to install the construction pits, train traffic had to be shut down for 52 hours during a TVP. During that time, all cables also had to be rerouted to install the sheet pile walls. After that, the new installation system had to run at the station. Van 't Hoff: "Speed was of the essence, but it worked out, as always."