Today, Keyrail and Strukton Railinfra have signed the contract for the maintenance and management of the Betuweroute. The contract will take effect from 1 January 2008 and will run till 1 January 2011. When after two years the parties have reached cost reduction and performance improvement, the contract will run for five years instead of three. The agreement covers the entire Betuweroute the new freight railway line from the port of Rotterdam to the European hinterland.
It was for the first time in the Netherlands that the management and maintenance of rail infrastructure was put up to European tender. Special is the underlying idea in the contract that customer and contractor set out to reach an alliance. They do so by sharing responsibilities both as to cost and as to profit. Together, the parties aim at the highest possible availability, reliability and safety against the lowest possible cost. Strukton Railinfra recognizes this form of cooperation, which allows the company to contribute its expertise and innovative power in a contract that aims at one common goal: rail transport as a reliable and attractive alternative for transporters.
The contract is founded on condition based maintenance. This means that the contractor will base its smart and efficient maintenance activities mainly on inspection values. Strukton Railinfra has developed several monitoring and inspection techniques aiming at finding defects before they lead to possible failures. This approach goes well with the policy desired by Keyrail.
Five parties have tendered for the contract. Keyrail has selected Strukton Railinfra not only because they submitted the most efficient proposal, but also because of the positive and passionate attitude that Strukton Railinfra shows. Both parties take this as a good point of departure for a fruitful and effective cooperation that will lead to optimal availability of the Betuweroute for carriers and shipping companies.
Strukton Railinfra is currently working on mobilising the organisation to make sure that there will be a full maintenance and management organisation by 1 January 2008. Strukton Railinfra, already responsible for 50% of track maintenance of in the Netherlands, sees its activities in that country grow further. This implies that there are good plenty of opportunities for (new) staff.
Strukton Railinfra itself has built a major part of the Betuweroute: 144 kilometres of track and 104 kilometres of catenary. In addition, Strukton Railinfra installed ERTMS along the route.
Strukton Railinfra is a full-service provider of rail systems in Europe. The company is active in the fields of construction, renewal and maintenance of rail systems, including rolling stock and information and monitoring systems in addition to the traditional track and catenary systems. The company was founded in 1921 and has at present ca. 3,000 employees in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The turnover in the year 2006 amounted to EUR 475 mln.