3,000 tons of precast beams

On behalf of combination Heijmans-Ploegam, Romein Beton is providing the engineering, production, delivery and assembly of a total of 3,000 tons of precast girders, consisting of rail beams and enormous box girders weighing up to 135 tons each.

"In early 2020, we received an order from the combination to supply the precast girders for structures KW01, KW05 and KW06," begins Twan van den Akker, project manager at Romein Beton. "Based on the Definitive Design of the three structures, we started calculating and drawing to arrive at a Construction Design and a detailed calculation of the deck. Since three different structures were involved, three separate engineering processes were also started. The total engineering process took about twenty weeks. Then last summer we started production of the 42 rail beams (inverted T-beams) of KW01 in lengths ranging from 15 and 28.5 meters, which we assembled last December."

Currently, Romein Beton has the rail beams of KW05 in production. Van den Akker: "The structure is similar to KW01, but is considerably wider (23 versus 14 beams), making it 69 rail beams. After assembly, the rail beams are provided by the construction crew with a 23-centimeter compression layer that creates a monolithic deck. KW06 has a different structure and consists of 4 box girders, because of the considerable span of 51 meters. The top of the box girder is equipped with gaines through which strands are pulled in the work, which are tensioned, making the girders composite to act as a bridge. Theoretically, the deck can be driven on immediately, but there will still be a wearing course and asphalt over it. According to schedule, we will take the box girders into production in early 2022. Also under our responsibility is the special transport to Eindhoven, the route survey and the assembly with four large cranes."