Bijenkorf store demands postponement of tunnel digging for North/South Line

The Bijenkorf department store has demanded extra research into the risks of the North/South Line, before they start digging the tunnel near the store.

The Bijenkorf is located at Dam Square, where the new North/South metro line is being made.
The Bijenkorf building is an official state monument, and the management fears that the building might be damaged by the digging activities.

The North/South line management insists that all necessary precautions have been taken, and that the digging can proceed as planned.

The tunnel digging near Dam Square is supposed to start at March 11. The construction work will take place completely underground. In principle, on the street level nothing will be noticed of the digging.

Previously, a number of old houses along Vijzelgracht (a bit further south) had to be vacated because they almost collapsed as a result of moving soil because of the tunnel construction work.

The North/South Line, the new metro line that is being made from Amsterdam North to Amsterdam South, currently meets with a lot of criticism. The project is well over budget, and takes years longer than planned. At the moment it is scheduled to be ready in 2017.

With the council elections coming up, on March 3, there is even a political party in Amsterdam of which the main issue is that it wants to stop building the North/South Line altogether.

Map of the North/South metro line.