Acceleration
Eliminate the overdue maintenance of the railway infrastructure in the Rotterdam port area more quickly: that is, in a nutshell, the aim of the Infrastructure in Order programme. In 2020, the work for the superstructure construction was inventoried and the planning was made, from 2021 the work outside started. The first year of the three-year catch-up is now behind us and 93% of the planned work for 2021 has been completed.
Project manager Ben van Hooijdonk is proud of that percentage: “All this work came on top of the regular maintenance work that was planned long in advance. That meant a lot of extra planning for the decommissioning work. It required flexibility and speed from the rail contractors and their employees. And we coordinated a lot with the direct stakeholders and transporters in the harbour area. We tried to do as much work as possible after, for example, a production stop at a factory or around the holidays.”
Fortunately, everyone recognizes the need to catch up.
– Ben van Hooijdonk, Project Manager at ProRail
The first blow has been struck
“Work was combined as much as possible to reduce disruption. And we helped think about solutions to keep companies accessible while work was being done around them, for example by using a temporary traffic bridge. Because with these ad hoc planned activities you come into contact with the daily operations of the freight carriers, shippers, terminals and other companies in the port area. Fortunately, everyone recognizes the need to catch up.”
That willingness and cooperation with all parties was crucial, adds Ben. “Otherwise we really wouldn’t have been able to reach that 93% mark.”” And what about that last 7%? “We will include this in 2022, it relates to smaller work that could not be realized for various reasons.”
The numbers
In work package 1, which will be carried out in 2021, we tackled 29 points, 50 level crossings and 10 kilometres of track. This year, in work package 2, another 28 points (and connecting rail branches) and 3 level crossings will follow. Work package 3 (to be completed in 2023) consists of 35 points, 25 level crossings and another 10 kilometres of track.
Focus on Botlek
In 2022, the focus will be on the Botlek railway yard, where the first activities of work package 2 took place last weekend. At the beginning of June, work will be carried out, also at the Botlek railway yard, during a major shutdown of 243 hours to replace 21 points in the cluster of points, among other things. Ben: “That is not a small number and therefore also a challenge. Just to indicate how great the impact is, of the 243 hours, the main track of the harbour rail line is also out of service for 96 hours. A longer shutdown of the main track was also not possible, as the harbour railway is an important lifeline for the Dutch economy.”
There are two major differences between work package 1 and 2: the preparation and the scope. Work package 1 mainly consisted of the bottlenecks that had to be tackled urgently. For work package 2 there was more preparation time and therefore more room for planning and consultation with the adjacent stakeholders. According to Ben, this will pay off. “I am going for a 100% achievement score. We are going to do a lot more work in a short time and with that there is also more at stake. But we are an experienced team and the same applies to contractor DuraVermeer. They not only do track, points and level crossings, but also have the in-house specialists for the JADE detection systems. We are therefore confident about the activities for 2022.”
The implementation contract for the third work package has now also been put to the market in January 2022. The work for this last part of the catch-up must be completed in 2023.
