Dutch heavy lifting company Mammoet has completed its second major bridge replacement at Amsterdam Centraal Station, as part of a long-term infrastructure initiative led by ProRail.
The works are included within the High-Frequency Rail Transport (PHS) Programme, which involves a series of rail and civil engineering upgrades to enable higher train volumes in the future. The ongoing project will see five bridges upgraded in total.
Mammoet previously finished the first replacement in 2025. For the second bridge, the company managed the transportation and installation, working in collaboration with Dura Vermeer, a construction company.
The bridge comprises three steel deck sections manufactured by Hollandia Infra, including two components each sized at 28.5m and weighing 275t, and a central section of 21m and 175t.
Given the station’s city-centre location, transporting large bridge components posed significant logistical challenges.
Mammoet opted to move the bridge sections by water, rather than by road, with the aim of reducing disruption and allowing the station to remain operational.
Each section arrived at the Oostertoegang side of the station on a flat-top barge. To pass beneath a low pedestrian footbridge, the barge was partially submerged.
Once at the site, the bridge sections were rotated by 90 degrees on Mammoet Self-Propelled Modular Transporters (SPMTs) and then lifted using specialist equipment.
During this phase, Mammoet used a four-point lifting system due to limited space between adjacent bridges, differing from the approach taken with the first bridge.
Mammoet project manager Leo de Vette said: “Previously, we used our Mega Jack 300 system and SPMTs to lift and rotate all deck sections on the deck of the barge and then drive them off and into position.
“This time, however, we are working between two bridges, so we had to consider the decks and columns of the old bridges, as well as those of the new bridge we installed last year.
“For this reason, we had to first manoeuvre and rotate the new sections underneath these bridges and then jack them up using a four-point lifting system, which was assembled on the quayside.”
This mechanism, which consists of four hydraulic cylinders that can extend in unison and be moved along tracks, allowed for precise lifting and positioning.
The final installation required floating the centre section into place, rotating it, and resting it temporarily on the existing bridge sections, before constructing the central bridge column and lowering the span onto its permanent support.
Mammoet reports that each section took around one week to install. The overall project marks the second of five planned bridge replacements at Amsterdam Centraal Station.
