Curious to see exactly how far along construction is on the Helperzoom tunnel? Aanpak Ring Zuid has set up a web cam to watch as the tunnel is put into place.
UPDATE: Thursday, 10 May, 9:00 a.m.
The tunnel will not be installed this weekend after all. The Groninger Internet Courant writes that a trial run revealed that the soil underneath the tunnel behaved differently than expected and the steel beams sank further than expected. Bert Kramer, the environmental manager for the project, says that the tunnel installation will be postponed in order to come up with an alternative plan.
Original story below:
Even though the structure of the tunnel is huge – 45 meters long, seven meters tall and weighing six million kilos – it will have to be carefully moved into place one millimeter at a time.
OOGTV reports that the main operations will begin on Friday, and project supervisor Friso Jongeneel says that a lot of work will go into opening the tunnel. “We have 100 hours to remove the tracks, dig out 11,000 cubic meters of soil and slide the tunnel into place.” Helperzoom runs parallel to the train tracks in the southeast of the city of Groningen.
Construction on the tunnel means that there will be no trains between Groningen and Veendam, Assen, Hoogeveen and the German town of Weener. Replacement buses will be available for travelers.
