Until 2028, the Mammoet Group will be taking part in the renovation of Amsterdam's Central Station. This work is part of the High Frequency Rail (PHS) program, which includes track optimization, infrastructure adjustment and construction work inside the station building.
Mammoet, in collaboration with Dutch engineering company Dura Vermeer, will replace five railway bridges over a five-year period, including four steel bridges and one concrete bridge on the east side of the central station. It will be responsible for loading, transporting and installing the three sections that make up each bridge. The elements measure between 24 and 28 meters in length and weigh between 173 and 275 tons.
Water operations
To keep disruption to an absolute minimum, operations will take place almost entirely on water, with one bridge replaced each year between now and 2028. The bridge sections are being manufactured by Hollandia in the Netherlands. They will be transported on float barges on the De Lek and Lekkanaal rivers.

A 90-ton mobile crane, positioned on a temporary bridge, will remove the pontoons from the barge and reposition them with SPMTs. A Mega Jack 300 system from Mammoet will lift the bridge sections to a height of four meters on the deck, leaving enough space for the SPMTs to drive a support frame underneath. The SPMTs will then rotate the bridge sections by 90°, so that they are correctly oriented. They will then drive them off the barge, on support towers.
For each bridge, Mammoet will first install the eastern section, then the western section and finally the central section - which will be lifted and installed over the water, from the barge deck. "We came up with the idea of installing the bridges over the water to limit transport movements and disruption in the downtown area. It's a complex operation, because space is limited and many steps have to be carefully managed," says Martin de Ruijter, project manager at Dura Vermeer. Every change influences something else, and that's a major challenge for this project."