Roy

Last weekend, Friday 23 and Saturday 24 September 2022, the Ministry of Defence, in cooperation with ProRail, conducted an exercise along the railway tracks. Between Kijfhoek and Europoort, active monitoring and patrolling took place. It was an impressive sight, and especially important for both ProRail and the Ministry of Defence.

During five train-free periods between 15 and 26 September, 12 rail defects were removed at the Kijfhoek railway yard and on the Betuwe line. ProRail’s Asset and Capacity Management departments, together with contractor VolkerRail, have been working since January to accomplish this. A mobile workshop has been used for this purpose.

The harbour railway of Rotterdam is of great economic importance to the Netherlands and Europe. But on Pentecost, rail freight traffic will be shut down for 96 hours for a large scope of works.

In a major 10-day out-of-service period, hard work was carried out to further upgrade the railway infrastructure in the Rotterdam Port area. Watch the beautiful drone footage of the work here.

It looks a bit like a little dog. But made of metal, yellow and better trained than the average terrier: ProRail is testing whether robots like SPOT and ANYmalD can make work on and around the rail tracks safer and more efficient. One challenge: “The robot must be programmed to carry out a task and be autonomous enough to dodge a rock without running into the track.”

Due to the need to repair a number of points on the Rotterdam harbour railway line, limited train traffic was possible today. Particularly at the Maasvlakte yard, this caused inconvenience.

Weather influences can be a challenge for train detection on the harbour railway line. This year, on the outer edge in the harbour area, ProRail and engineering firm Sweco are testing how the detection system with axle counters is holding up. If this proves more resistant to sand and salt in all seasons, the current system will be replaced. This should reduce the number of disruptions.

The long Whitsun weekend saw more hard work on the harbour railway. Contractors braved rain and wind to complete work on the main track for ProRail. Points were replaced, level crossings placed and fire extinguishing pipes installed. Board members John Voppen and Mirjam van Velthuizen took carrier Lineas and sector representative Railgood on a working visit.

ProRail has signed an access agreement with freight operator Medway Italia S.R.L. for the use of our infrastructure and services. The organisation and operational adjustment of Medway’s train traffic will be done by Medway Italia’s Belgian offices.

ProRail and the Safety Region Zuid-Holland Zuid (VRZHZ) will receive three fire-fighting vehicles for rail freight yard Kijfhoek and the Dordrecht-Zwijndrecht zone. Ziegler Brandweertechniek will build the three fire-fighting vehicles. The involved tender stakeholders came together on Thursday 7 July.