Challenging Rail Lift for M.J. van Riel in Leeuwarden

During the holiday period, work is often carried out on the railway network in the Netherlands with M.J. van Riel B.V. assisting various railway contractors with the execution of lifting and transport work.

Last Friday in Weert they were called in to load and dispose of exchange parts with a 220t crane, and again on Saturday night they were present in Leeuwarden for the lifting of three sets of points using a 500t crane.

What made this lift special was that two so-called “English” points were already welded together to increase efficiency saving down-time with the track being closed.

Normally the largest part of such lift is approximately 20m and 30t, but in this case the part to be lifted was about 34m long weighing 47t creating a challenge to lift the whole pre-constructed part.

Appreciation and thanks go to all employees of the clients and colleagues of M.J. van Riel B.V., including the colleagues from the often-underexposed departments transport and crane planning, equipment service and office staff for their commitment and cooperation, resulting in the good atmosphere at the work locations during the execution of this challenging project!

Source  Jan van Zon, Freelance accountmanager at