Europe's busiest trainstation

As a restless hotspot with such rich cultural heritage, artistic grandeur, and bustling nightlife, Amsterdam ranks among the most frequented cities worldwide. It is no surprise then, that its central station is also one of the busiest. Everyday about 250,000 people travel through Amsterdam Central Station, and that number is expected to increase to 300,000 in the coming years. In order to accommodate this rise, Prorail planned an expansion of the commercial area in the middle tunnel of the station. This complex, full of infrastructural and historical obstacles, stood in need of a smart building solution to meet those challenges.

An easy, yet reliable heating and cooling solution to support shops and restaurants in the middle tunnel of Amsterdam Central Station was targeted. As the historical station is a complex building site with a number of limiting restrictions, ease and speed of implantation played a key role. The middle tunnel is constructed on a thick concrete shelf in which old steel pipes are included. Using these steel pipes as guiding ducts was the only possible way to install a new network for heating and cooling.

Because of the long length (20 meters) of the existing steel ducts, no straight lines could be used. On top of that, the dimensions did not allow any room for connection. A test together with Prorail effectively demonstrated that a coiled Flexalen pipe was perfectly suitable for these conditions as it could be easily slide through the existing ducts as opposed to traditional systems.

Thanks to the flexibility of Flexalen it was possible to use the existing steel pipes as a duct. In this way a quick and easy connection of all the shops to the central heating and cooling network was achieved.