Preservation of the Suurhof bridge at Rotterdam Europoort

On behalf of NS Rail-infrabeheer B.V., work was started, in the spring of 1999, to preserve the Suurhof railway bridge at Rotterdam Europoort. The surface to be preserved is approximately 13,000 m2. The plan is to have the work completed by the middle of 2000.

A detailed safety plan has been developed in order to guarantee the workers’ safety during the work underneath the bridge. This mainly concerns preventing the chance of ships colliding with the scaffolding construction erected under the bridge. The Hartel canal is a very busy waterway and it has, therefore, been decided to indicate the obligatory course with buoys.

Container ships have also been placed on both sides of the bridge. A patrol ship which is continuously present keeps an accurate watch over the movements of ships and gives instructions over the radio to the grit blasters if an accident threatens to occur, such as a ship going off course.