Redevelopment of the Driebergen-Zeist station area

It was high time for some redevelopment work at the Driebergen-Zeist station complex. The existing railway crossing over the tracks had to close for 15 minutes every hour to let trains pass. So the plan was to replace it with a tunnel under the railway tracks and build an underground car park at the same time. An Eekels pump system was required for the sand dredging operations.

In projects of this type, a great deal of sand can be extracted from the dredge spoil, which can lead to savings in the cost of materials. With this in mind, the customer also had a sand catcher built to separate the water from the sand. In addition to removing the dredge spoil, we also supplied pumps to transport the sand back to the building site.

Pumps supplied by Eekels

To carry out the work, Eekels provided three pumps: a B11 pomp and two Betsy 125M pumps. The B11 pump is ideal for pumping a combination of water and sand. It is also the largest pump in our product range. This high-pressure pump can pump up to 580 m3/hour at a maximum pressure of 11 bars.

Pumping principle

A hydraulic pump hung from a crane was used to pump the dredge spoil from the excavation to the Eekels B11 pump. The B11 pump transported the medium to a sand catcher built by the customer. The sand was filtered out of the water in this device, after which it was pumped back to the point of origin by the Betsy 125M diesel pumps supplied by Eekels.

Sand supplementation

The dredge spoil obtained during excavation usually consists of 15 to 20% sand. We filter this mixture so that the sand recovered in this way can be used in the construction project. In dredging projects like this one, this process results in significant savings for the customer.

The medium was pumped over a total distance of 1600 metres. The distance between the hydraulic pump and the B11 pump from Eekels was approximately 200 metres. After that, the route included a further 600 metres to the sand catcher and, finally, another 800 metres or so from our Betsy 125M pumps back to the construction site. Distances like these are unavoidable in some construction projects due to constraints in the area around the site, such the need to keep traffic flowing and avoid obstructing public spaces.

Other work being done at the station includes a new bicycle parking area, extra parking spaces and an extension of the tracks. Click the link below for more info about this construction project:
https://www.prorail.nl/projecten/driebergen-zeist