Máxima Canal Railway Bridge

Using highly sensitive sensors, Heijmans is able to register every little vibration of 0.001 millimetres on structures like railway bridges, tunnels and viaducts. The kilonewtons generated by a train thundering across the railway bridge near Rosmalen result in 2,048 data points per second. In total, over 175 million data points are collected every day. Big data.

Bridge crossing
in 45 seconds

LudoWic: “The whole track originates from data from a single passing freight train. The crossing takes exactly 45 seconds, during which the railway bridge moves between 0 and 0.16 millimetres in a wave-like manner. Each hundredth of a millimetre has its own tone. I then added an Arpeggio synthesizer. This is a well known sound in the music world; you will recognise it immediately. Only that rhythm you hear those first 45 seconds. And then the same train passes again. The Arpeggio synth was then combined with a bass loop. A beating heart, you could say! The sound of the track becomes deeper thanks to extra percussion. You spend three minutes following the rhythm of a train. It's crazy to think that one train results in thousands of data points; Heijmans uses this data to look after the bridge.”

Bridge crossing
in 45 seconds

LudoWic: “The whole track originates from data from a single passing freight train. The crossing takes exactly 45 seconds, during which the railway bridge moves between 0 and 0.16 millimetres in a wave-like manner. Each hundredth of a millimetre has its own tone. I then added an Arpeggio synthesizer. This is a well known sound in the music world; you will recognise it immediately. Only that rhythm you hear those first 45 seconds. And then the same train passes again. The Arpeggio synth was then combined with a bass loop. A beating heart, you could say! The sound of the track becomes deeper thanks to extra percussion. You spend three minutes following the rhythm of a train. It's crazy to think that one train results in thousands of data points; Heijmans uses this data to look after the bridge.”

Railway bridge accessible and reliable thanks to tremendous flow of data

Albert Reitsema, innovation manager: “We have been monitoring constructions since 2015 and are continuously innovating when it comes to the digitalisation of infrastructure. In the 60s and 70s, a lot of bridges, tunnels and viaducts were built due to rapid increase in mobility. At the time, people thought designs would have a life span of 50 years. But we do not know exactly when we will need to replace these constructions. Hence the need for ever smarter monitoring. Although these structures still have a lot of life left in them, we want to use them as effectively and safely as possible. This will help to cut costs, energy and CO2 emissions.”  

“Data from the railway bridge shows the relationship between forces exerted by the train and the behaviour of the bridge. How far does the bridge sink when the train passes over it? The bridge near Rosmalen is fairly new, so the condition was expected to be similar to the last measurement. As far as we were concerned, it was a way for us to test our measurement system. For instance, were our theories proven in practice? We can now roll out the system for other bridges and tunnels.”

“These parameters will offer a framework for how such constructions could be addressed in the future. The Netherlands is a transit country, which means accessibility and reliability are very important. That is why we want to keep using infrastructure and materials for as long as possible. There is no need to spend a load of taxpayer's money if we can use smart measuring to improve our predications.”