Engineers lifting and moving the entire monumental Vught train station building today
An extraordinary relocation is happening in Vught today. The monumental train station building is being lifted in its entirety, including its historic cellar, and moved 13.6 meters to make way for a fourth railway track. The process of moving the 720-ton structure started at 8:00 a.m. and is expected to take about seven hours.
The building is 28 meters long and 9.5 meters wide. The move involves lifting the building, positioning a concrete structure under it, and then sliding a track under this concrete base, shifting the building towards its new location in 40-centimeter increments. The process can be followed live via ProRail's website.
The building needs to be moved to allow for more trains to run between Meteren and Boxtel from 2030. The fourth train track will be laid in a recessed section between Den Bosch and Vught, and the station building is exactly in the way, NOS reported. As a nationally registered heritage site, the building could not be demolished and reconstructed. Building around it was also not a viable option, so the station had to be moved.
Taco Bresser, director of the company overseeing the move, is confident that everything will go well. The building is in good condition and has to cover a relatively short distance, he told local media. Engineers will continuously monitor the structure throughout the operation.
The station is a national monument because of the role it played during the Second World War, Brabants Dagblad reported. The station served as a transit point for the transport of thousands of Jewish people and other prisoners to and from the Vught concentration camp.
The cellar is part of the monument due to the efforts of then-station master Willem Jooren. He did everything in his power to help the people being sent to Vught, providing them with food, tobacco, and warm clothing. He also managed to help some escape by hiding them in the cellar. In 1984, Jooren was posthumously awarded the Resistance Commemorative Cross, called the Verzetsherdenkingskruis in Dutch, an honor bestowed upon those who took part in the resistance during the War.
