Strukton Rail is to provide rail maintenance in the new ‘Rijn & Gouwe’ contractual region in the Netherlands over the next five years. On Friday 3 December, Strukton Rail and ProRail signed the maintenance contract. The ‘Rijn & Gouwe’ region combines two former maintenance regions and covers more than 180 kilometres of track and around 210 sets of points.

The maintenance contract takes effect from 1 April 2011 and starts with maintenance in the Leiden sub-region. The other sub-region will follow on 1 October 2011. Strukton Rail will devote the months ahead to preparations, such as setting up the maintenance processes and implementing various systems.

Infrastructure provider ProRail is putting new-style maintenance contracts out to tender in the Netherlands. These contracts for daily maintenance and repair are output-driven. Rijn & Gouwe is the fourth maintenance contract in this style awarded in the Netherlands and the first in the western part of the country. 'Output' is the core of these so-called PGO contracts; the maintenance contractor is granted greater freedom to decide on the method and time of work. The aim is to comply with the requirements in the fields of safety, availability and sustainability.

A goal-oriented contract of this kind dovetails well with Strukton Rail's maintenance philosophy, which focuses on safety, life-cycle management and optimal availability. Strukton Rail has always invested heavily in the development of innovations aimed at preventing faults and increasing availability. The POSS monitoring system, the video inspection train, measurement and inspection trains and the linked maintenance management concept are examples.

Strukton Rail has gained experience in the new goal-oriented type of contract in the south of the Netherlands (the De Peel region), where Strukton Rail secured the maintenance contract in January 2009.