Willemsspoortunnel
The Willemsspoortunnel is a 2796 meter long railway tunnel in Rotterdam . It crosses four tracks under the Nieuwe Maas in the center of the city and is part of the Breda – Rotterdam railway line .
As rail traffic passed over the De Hef lift bridge , which was opened to shipping at regular intervals, the railway timetables always had to be adapted to the opening times. In addition, extensive modernization work would have been necessary on the bridge, which is over a hundred years old.
Construction began on April 28, 1987. On the land side, the tunnels were built using the cut-and-cover method and then built over. The lowering method was used for the underwater construction. The eight tunnel elements, each 125 meters long, were built in a dock in Barendrecht ; the first section was lowered at the end of 1990. After a construction period of six years, the tunnel was opened on September 15, 1993.
In the landside part of the tunnel there is also Rotterdam Blaak station , which serves as a transfer station to the Calandlijn metro . The railroad tracks are deep below those of the subway .
