Dutch demissionary Minister Eurlings of Transport and Public Works laid a golden sleeper in Lelystad on 3 March 2010. In so doing, he marked the start of the construction of the railway part of the new 50 kilometre long Hanze Line. This includes everything that has to do with the actual railway system: rails, sleepers, ballast, catenary supports, catenary, acoustic barriers and the ERTMS safety system.
This action of Minister Eurlings is also the starting signal for the activities of the HanzaRailTeam, a combination consisting of VolkerRail, Strukton Rail, ARCADIS and Alstom. The HanzaRailTeam will build 45 kilometres of the railway part in two years time starting now. The contract includes 167.5 kilometres of rails, 140,000 sleepers, 1,600 catenary supports, 13 kilometres of acoustic barriers, 210 kilometres of contact wire and 470,000 tonnes of ballast. The HanzaRailTeam will complete the activities at the beginning of 2012. The line will be opened by the end of 2012.
Minister Eurlings: "The first sleeper of a total of 185 thousand sleepers is laid today. We are halfway in the construction of this new line and we are well on schedule. The Hanze Line
is a line offering opportunities. Opportunities for the region, for the cities that the line will connect and opportunities for the train as an attractive alternative.”
Additional mobility
ProRail also sees great opportunities in the construction of the new railway line. "A direct train connection between Lelystad and Zwolle is great news for rail passengers. The city of Dronten can become the commuter city for Amsterdam. We are building extra mobility for the Netherlands", says Bert Klerk, CEO of ProRail.
Green line
ProRail wants the Hanze Line to be a green line. The HanzaRailTeam is happy to contribute to the sustainability of the line and has proposed solutions including ecological buildings along the line and geothermal points heating. The HanzaRailTeam takes into account environmental and social aspects when purchasing and transporting materials. The combination takes environmentally sound and energy saving measures during the construction. An example is the use of a steel road instead of a sandy road along the line – this enables the HanzaRailTeam to reduce the fuel consumption for the transport along the sand line by more than 90%. In addition, the steel road reduces sound pollution and nuisance for the environment. The HanzaRailTeam also uses bio lubricants and its employees travel together, stay overnight, work at home and apply video-conferencing to save on fuel consumption.