Dutch emplacement yard Kijfhoek will operate with only half of its capacity on the period from Saturday 1 May to Tuesday 11 May. Strukton will be working on the maintenance of one of the two main rail brakes that are part of the hill system at Kijfhoek. Infrastructure manager ProRail reports that only 50 per cent of the hill capacity can be used when these works are taking place.

Strukton Rail will completely disassemble the main rail brake, replace the frame and reassemble the construction. The main rail brake is then extensively tested to ensure that the system can be safely put back into service. The main rail brake is part of the hill that is used to re-sort freight trains using gravity.

Delays and disturbance

Because the hill capacity decreases by 50 per cent, this has consequences for the wagon load transport of DB Cargo. DB Cargo is taking a number of measures to be able to serve its customers during this period, For example, it will relocate its shunting activities elsewhere.

Additional personnel will be available to place wagons on the departure tracks, without using the shunting mound. Despite this, delays can occur rail freight traffic from, to and in the Netherlands.

Hill system

To shunt the trains at Kijfhoek to their final destination, a locomotive pushes wagons over a hill. All wagons are automatically sorted for the correct destination via the hill. Each wagon ends up on the right track via computer-controlled turnouts. The rail brakes, which are also automatically controlled, ensure that the wagons come to a stop at the right point.