The challenges for Rijkswaterstaat as well as the consortium partners and subcontractors were not only of a technical nature. The fact that the building was built in a working environment placed high demands on planning, safety and risk management and required careful coordination and communication. Jaap Rebel, project manager on behalf of Yunex Traffic, looks back with pride: “This was a complex and very challenging project. Together with Rijkswaterstaat, our consortium partners and the subcontractors, we have made the Nederrijn and Lek weir complex future-proof. It complies with the European Machinery Directive and all other (safety) requirements that are set for locks and flood defences.”

The Nederrijn en Lek weir ensemble is a crucial link in the Dutch water system and has a vital function. The weir at Driel is the ‘crane of the Netherlands’. It distributes the water that comes from the Pannerdensch canal over the IJssel, the Nederrijn and Lek. On the one hand, this ensures that sufficient freshwater flows to the IJsselmeer. Stay on the other hand As a result, the Lower Rhine and Lek are easily navigable. 39,000 ships pass through the locks every year: 12,000 at Driel, 17,000 at Amerongen and 10,000 at Hagestein.

With the completion of the project, the project organization of Yunex Traffic has handed over the baton to the maintenance organization Siemens Customer Services. He will take care of the maintenance of all technical installations for one year. The maintenance organization was involved from the start, to help think about maintenance during the design phase. “Each installation has its own maintenance regime,” said service delivery manager Chek Lee. “We also perform fault analysis to resolve faults and remove any structural problems from the installations. And if Rijkswaterstaat wants to make a certain adjustment or expansion of the installation, our service organization will take care of that too. In this way, we will continue to work together with Rijkswaterstaat on the development of the weir ensemble, even after the renovation.”

Jaap Rebel: “During this project, we were able to convert the lessons learned from the previous renovation of a series of almost identical works of art into an impressive and sustainable end result. Together we have thus taken another step towards the digitization of our vital infrastructure. We thank Rijkswaterstaat and our subcontractors for the pleasant constructive cooperation.”