📋 Tender Overview
Time for an update from the Groningen Spoorzone. We take you for a tour in the construction pit and look back on the work that has been done recently. From braiding reinforcement to concrete pouring and from digging construction pits to drilling and tensioning groutankers.Concrete and busesIf you are standing on the edge of the construction pit - on the side of the Achterweg - you look in the construction pit at the place where the bus station will be. The bus station will soon consist of two bus decks one north of the island platform and one south of it. There reinforcement weavers are currently busy preparing reinforcing steel before we pour the concrete.The braiding of this steel is done by hand. And these reinforcement weavers as we call them come from all corners of the world. If you look closely you can see flags on their construction helmets. Those flags indicate which language someone speaks.Travelers passage in the makingThe contractor is mainly busy digging the construction pit on the north side of Groningen station. This is the place where among other things passengers can walk under the tracks to the platforms for trains and buses. A temporary cockpit has now been made on the south side of the construction pit which we call 1C. This will soon form the temporary entrance and exit for pedestrians of the station. The difference between the floor and the ground level is currently five meters deep.On the north side pedestrians will soon be able to go up and down just behind the main entrance of the station building with the stairs or elevator. Such a place for stairs escalators and elevators is called a rising point. These ascent points are also there to eventually reach the platforms.Far undergroundIn the final situation Groningen station has two floors underground. On the very bottom -2 floor there will be a bicycle shed with space for about 6500 bicycles. On the -1 floor there will be a passenger passage and cycle path that run under the tracks and the bus decks. To make the underpass light and feel safe we place glass plates in different places that let the light through.To ensure that the buildings around the construction pit remain firmly in place the contractor places groutankers. These are anchoring elements that ensure that the deep walls on the north side remain in place and the construction pit remains intact. The groutankers we use here are up to 44 meters long.Bus drivers quartersWork is also being done above ground. If you walk on the Achterweg you will see the skeleton of the bus drivers quarters. In addition to being a rest and living space for pausing drivers this building is also the place for various transformers. They will ensure that everything that needs power at the station is supplied with it. Think of lighting information boards and escalators.
