North/South Metro Line, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Technical challenges in immersed tunnelling

Abstract

The new North/South Metro line in Amsterdam is in operation since July 2017. The 9 km line runs from the northern ring road to the southern ring road and passes the historic and very vulnerable city centre. For the part in the city centre special tunnel techniques were applied to limit the impact on both the historic buildings and the disruption of city life.One special technique that was used is the immersed tunnel technique. This technique has been used for the crossing of the IJ-river under very soft soil conditions and for the crossing of the historic Amsterdam Central Railway Station. The application of the immersed tunnel technique underneath a historic building has never been applied in the world and was a true challenge considering the special immersion trench that had to be created underneath the building. The tunnel was successfully immersed under the Central Station in the summer of 2011.This paper will focus on the technical challenges of the complicated underpass of the historic Central Railway Station and the IJ-river crossing.