Police uncovered a warehouse in Spijkenisse on February 18 filled with more than 3.8 million illegal cigarettes The Dutch Customs Service confirmed the cigarettes were without the required excise stamps The discovery led to the involvement of the Combiteam Smoke which initiated a criminal investigation into the operation Evidence suggests the cigarettes were intentionally packaged in boxes bearing the logo and name of an Italian pastry manufacturer Had the illegal cigarettes been distributed on the Dutch market the state would have faced an estimated fiscal loss of approximately 1.5 million euros in unpaid taxes and the seized cigarettes are set to be destroyed The investigation is being led by the Functioneel Parket the Dutch public prosecutor’s office specializing in economic and financial crime The illegal trade of cigarettes has significant repercussions including the creation of criminal wealth and a substantial loss to the Dutch treasury Tax evasion and VAT fraud are serious offenses that distort fair competition in the country’s retail sector it strives to form an “exemplary eco-neighborhood” Continue after the break for the architects’ description The library is designed as an advert for reading, its visible presence and invitation holding great significance for a community with 10 percent illiteracy. From underneath the glass dome the library is visible from all sides, especially from the adjacent market square where the library appears as one big book mountain. Underneath its monumental glass envelope damage to the books by sunlight is off-set by their normal 4 year life-span due to wear and tear from borrowing. The library had to accommodate a number of other partly commercial functions. The stacking of this non-library program forms a pyramidal base on which platforms are projected, housing the libraries bookshelves and shaping a powerful symbol. The book platforms are connected via wide stairs and together form a continuous route of 480 meters around the mountain to its peak where a café offers panoramic views over this Dutch Newtown. © Jeroen MuschThe development of Book Mountain and the Library Quarter is currently translated into literature: titled “Make Some Noise” later this year a mix between literature and photo novel will be published by 010/NAi Publishers describing the almost ten years it took realizing the project You'll now receive updates based on what you follow Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors If you have done all of this and still can't find the email millions of citizens in the eurozone use banknotes whose different denominations portray a variety of colorful Not anymore. Ever since 2013, the once-imaginary bridges depicted on the euro notes can all be seen and used by Dutch cyclists and pedestrians in the Netherlands The banknote bridges were originally designed in 2002 to appear on the EU currency dreamed up to represent certain periods in European cultural history Found on the seven different euro notes—5€ and 500€—they illustrate Classical Antiquity As there were only seven banknotes and 19 eurozone states displaying actual existing bridges would favor certain countries over others so fictional bridges were used. But then Dutch designer Robin Stam thought it would be fun to make them real The bridges now stand surrounding a new housing project called Het Land in the former centre of urban development and suburb of Spijkenisse Each of the seven bridges was modeled exactly after their corresponding banknotes by pouring dyed concrete into custom-made wooden moulds and cropping their edges as seen on the bills. In the end the European Central Bank even liked the idea Each of the bridges has a sign that marks the best location for a photograph that matches the euro bill perspective this bridge over the Des Moines River Valley mimics a descent into a mine shaft This public Skyspace created by artist James Turrell for his alma mater puts on a show every day at sunrise and sunset Construction of this bridge was once described as an "act of violence" against a neighboring country This sound-art installation features songs composed using only the Mid-Hudson Bridge as an instrument with a rotation of 12 historical figures on its face This ”skyspace,” which bears a resemblance to a spacecraft is designed to disappear in the presence of light The pillar of this bridge contains a small home and underneath Go to the end of this street to find Heartbreak Hotel.Credit: Google Street View For an example at the intersection of lyrical and whimsical right across from Elvis Presley’s Graceland mansion The King of Rock ‘n Roll had a hit with that title back in 1956 you’ll find the hotel down at the end of Lonely Street The euro bridges were designed to be transnational – but now they’re all Dutch.Credit: Google Maps And then there’s the otherwise unassuming Dutch town of Spijkenisse where you can take a walk across seven brightly-colored bridges which until recently only existed on banknotes you’ll have seen them on the reverse of each of the seven denominations which often double as patriotic pamphlets and/or tourist teasers the euro notes do not feature real-life landmarks or real-dead Europeans That would have involved favoring some countries and leaving out others and in a multinational endeavor like the pan-European currency It’s a problem that had to be solved relatively recently as the euro is the youngest of the world’s major currencies The look of the euro notes can be traced back to a European Council meeting in Dublin on December 13 when the European Monetary Institute (the precursor of today’s European Central Bank) announced the winner of its competition to design the euro notes The five-euro bridge: Classical, and dirt-grey.Credit: ScWikiSc, CC BY-SA 4.0 a designer with the National Bank of Austria His ‘Ages and Styles of Europe’ was chosen from among 44 contenders All Austrian banknotes from 1982 onwards were by his hand as were notes he later designed for Bosnia-Herzegovina Mr Kalina’s euro designs scrupulously avoided any allusion to particular people or places The obverse of each note shows a window and a doorway symbolizing Europe’s spirit of openness exemplifying communication and cooperation both between the countries of Europe and between Europe and the rest of the world The architectural style of each note progresses chronologically as the value of the denomination increases Most also feature a color from the rainbow spectrum The ten-euro bridge, Romanesque in style and red in color.Credit: ScWikiSc, CC BY-SA 4.0 These euro bridges would have remained fictional The Rotterdam-based artist got the idea of turning financial fiction into architectural fact in a pizza place “Suddenly it struck me how amazing it would be if these fictional bridges came to life,” he said Mr Stam found a willing partner for his idea in the city council of Spijkenisse The plan was to build seven euro bridges across a canal that almost entirely surrounds an area called De Elementen (‘The Elements’) Gothic blue: the twenty-euro bridgeCredit: ScWikiSc, CC BY-SA 4.0 Mr Stam felt he needed the blessing of the European Central Bank The euro notes scrupulously avoid favoring one member state over the other but Mr Stam’s euro bridges would all be in one country – the Netherlands But he needn’t have feared: out of Frankfurt came a kind reply with an official letter of approval “Their main concern is counterfeiting And you can’t pay with a bridge,” says the artist ‘The Bridges of Europe’ got underway Funded by the city and aided by local contractors all seven bridges were installed between October 2011 and September 2013 They all preserve the color and shape of the ‘originals’ All were made of concrete except the two most recent styles (€200 and €500 notes) In all the project cost around €1 million to complete.  The fifty-euro bridge, in Renaissance orange.Credit: ScWikiSc, CC BY-SA 4.0 the euro bridges of Spijkenisse are not as monumental as their depiction on the notes suggests they’re pedestrian in more than one sense has said he would have liked the bridges to be built in the style in which each was designed instead of their appearance being used as a “kitschy façade.” So it’s perhaps more appropriate to call them ‘follies’ but then many have said the same about the euro itself a second series of euro notes was published This ‘Europa’ series–named after the Greek goddess who is watermarked into the notes–is a redesign by the German banknote designer Reinhold Gerstetter who wanted the notes to be “more colorful If it’s Baroque/Rococo and green, it must be the one-hundred-euro bridge.Credit: ScWikiSc, CC BY-SA 4.0 The Europa series no longer features a €500 note out of concern that it appeared to be more useful to criminals than to law-abiding citizens The reason is its exceptionally high value but the euro is the only major currency to have a note this valuable which has the $100 bill as its highest denomination Because it is so valuable and was so relatively widespread the €500 bill is ideal for transferring large amounts of money in a compact volume of notes Turns out that quality was greatly appreciated by money launderers Industrial and yellow – the two-hundred-euro bridgeCredit: ScWikiSc, CC BY-SA 4.0 The notes soon acquired the nickname ‘Bin Ladens’ because One examination by the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency noted 90% of the €500 bills distributed in the U.K were in the hands of criminal organisations who liked the note because it made it easier to launder money (the highest British denomination is £50) Bureaux de Change stopped trading €500 notes in 2010 Old €500 notes will remain legal tender forever as will other notes from the first series; but they will gradually be taken out of circulation Spijkenisse for its part has as yet no plans to demolish the €500 bridge Got a strange map? Let me know at [email protected] Follow Strange Maps on Twitter and on Facebook Purple and modern, like the ‘Bin Laden’ note beloved by criminals: the five-hundred-euro bridge.Credit: ScWikiSc, CC BY-SA 4.0 Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker The Theater in Spijkenisse, Netherlands, designed by UNStudio The greatest issue the architects at UNStudio were dealing with was the placement and the orientation of the theater building in the urban location in order it fits the surrounding and at the same time provides all the necessary architectural solutions for programming The thoughtful distribution of the programs within the building was required in order to enable efficient routing through the theater The very design and the placement of some volumes of the building take advantage of the natural variations in the ground levels of the site The visitors, coming from the outside – the public square and from the foyer, are pretty much directed by the two main theater spaces positioned to receive the flow the sculptural stairway forms the binding element further directing the audience to the theater rooms The theater cafe is designed as a third theater and is located adjacent to the nearby water The double curvature of the roof of this theater building is smoothing the transition from the ground to the built structure, therefore minimizing the impact the building has done to the surrounding urban tissue That artificial “landscaping” is further translated into the interior – the ceilings are matching the roof This elegant and unique landmark piece of architecture is a statement design and a new meeting point which completes the waterfront of this Dutch city Activate the Wp-related-posts plugin to see the related post list XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong> rotterdam-based MVRDV has just completed the ‘book mountain + library quarter’ centrally located in the market square of spijkenisse a mountain of bookshelves is contained by a glass-enclosed structure and pyramidal roof with an impressive total surface area of 9,300 square meters corridors and platforms bordering the form are accessed by a network of stairs to allow visitors to browse the tiers of shelves a continuous route of 480 meters culminates at the peak’s reading room and cafe with panoramic views through the transparent roof any possible damage caused to the books by direct sunlight is offset by the expected 4 year lifespan of borrowed materials additional functions including an environmental education center taking the form of a traditional dutch farm to reference the agricultural roots of the village the encompassing district integrates 42 social housing units parking and public spaces to form a neighborhood the masonry exterior of adjacent structures is introduced into the interior with brick pavers for the circulation spaces see our original coverage when this project was unveiled here view from market square image © jeroen musch stairs lead to different levels to allow access to the mountain’s shelves image © jeroen musch seating and reading spaces border the mountain formed with bookshelves image © jeroen musch a reading room and cafe are positioned at the peak image © jeroen musch upper level corridor image © jeroen musch exterior of the glass-enclosed mountain image © jeroen musch parking: 30 million EUR start project: 2003 start construction: may 2009 opening: october 2012 public part library: 3500 m2 environmental education centre: 112 m2 chess club: 140 m2 back office library: 370 m2 retail: 839 m2 commercial offices: 510 m2 length book shelves: 3205 m total (1565 m for lending 1640 m archive) amount of books: currently 70.000 and space for another 80.000 the cover is 26 m tall and spans 33,5 m x 47 m parking: garage with grey water basin and 350 spaces client: gemeente spijkenisse user: openbare bibliotheek spijkenisse schaaksportvereniging spijkenisse architect: MVRDV nl client housing: de leeuw van putten housing corporation installations: ARCADIS nederland nl book shelves: keijsers interior projects nl wood cover: de groot vroomshoop houtbouw AXOR presents three bathroom concepts that are not merely places of function but destinations in themselves — sanctuaries of style One of the most common criticisms of the euro paper currency’s design since their premiere in 2002 has been that the bank notes do not depict actual bridges but are artistic fictions representing periods in Europe’s cultural history The reason for disregarding landmarks such as the Pont Neuf in Paris and the Vasco da Gama Bridge in Lisbon was that with 19 countries but only seven denominations omitted member states could feel envious.  opted for “state neutral” bank notes.  Unbeknownst to most and proving that life can imitate art the seven bridges have existed in reality since 2013 standing in a row in the Rotterdam suburb of Spijkenisse Dutch cyclists and pedestrians are able to use them toll-free The “Bruggen van Europa” (Bridges of Europe) are the creation of Dutch designer Robin Stam who told the architecture and design magazine Dezeen “The European Bank didn’t want to use real bridges so I thought it would be funny to claim the bridges and make them real.”  as the artists who’ve designed our most gorgeous pieces of paper currency are profiled Stam chose a new housing project called “Het Land” in the Spijkenisse urban development zone After modeling each of the bridges after its related bank note into wood molds corresponding to the exact design of the bill.  Stam says that the European Central Bank even gave his project a letter of approval and contemporary 20th century architecture Paper Money A massive sculpture of a whale's tail keeps a metro train aloft Monday after it shot through a stop block at De Akkers station in Spijkenisse A Dutch train burst past the end of its elevated tracks Monday in the Netherlands But instead of crashing to the ground 30 feet below, the metro train was caught — held aloft by an artist's massive sculpture of a whale's tail. Despite some damage, no injuries or deaths were reported The sculpture at the end of the tracks was given a prescient name: "Saved by the Whale's Tail," according to France 24 installed at the De Akkers station in Spijkenisse It's unclear why the train didn't stop. The partial derailment is under investigation, and the train driver was the only person on board, according to The Associated Press The driver was questioned by police and sent home, the local emergency service said Monday afternoon The train will spend the night on the whale's tail. On Tuesday morning, workers will attempt to lift the train to safety by using slings, local authorities said. "It's like the scene of a Hollywood movie," said Ruud Natrop, a spokesman for safety in the Rotterdam-Rijnmond area, according to The New York Times "I am amazed that it is so strong," Struijs said, according to The Guardian you don't expect it to hold up a metro train." Reese Oxner is an intern on NPR's News Desk Become an NPR sponsor '+n.escapeExpression("function"==typeof(o=null!=(o=r(e,"eyebrowText")||(null!=l?r(l,"eyebrowText"):l))?o:n.hooks.helperMissing)?o.call(null!=l?l:n.nullContext||{},{name:"eyebrowText",hash:{},data:t,loc:{start:{line:28,column:63},end:{line:28,column:78}}}):o)+" \n '+(null!=(o=c(e,"if").call(r,null!=l?c(l,"cta2PreText"):l,{name:"if",hash:{},fn:n.program(32,t,0),inverse:n.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:63,column:20},end:{line:63,column:61}}}))?o:"")+"\n"+(null!=(o=(c(e,"ifAll")||l&&c(l,"ifAll")||n.hooks.helperMissing).call(r,null!=l?c(l,"cta2Text"):l,null!=l?c(l,"cta2Link"):l,{name:"ifAll",hash:{},fn:n.program(34,t,0),inverse:n.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:64,column:20},end:{line:70,column:30}}}))?o:"")+" Last week, a teenager found a ball python between the hockey fields of the Hockey Association Spijkenisse. The reptile center in Zwanenburg took in the massive snake and is trying to find the owner, the local animal ambulance told Rijnmond It is still a mystery how the snake ended up at the hockey fields in the Baarsveen neighborhood of Spijkenisse Its owner has also not yet been identified Ball pythons can grow up to 2 meters long and are not poisonous. According to the National Information Center for Companion Animals, they’re typically “fairly calm and friendly,” easy to handle, and “not very aggressive.” Netherlands residents don’t need a permit to keep or sell a ball python, though the owner must have a declaration of origin. © 2012-2025, NL Times, All rights reserved. Text description provided by the architects. Following the recent completion of the Theatre de Stoep in the Dutch town of Spijkenisse, the Municipality of Spijkenisse will tomorrow celebrate the official opening of its new cultural venue for the city. UNStudio’s design for Theatre responds to the current cultural invigoration of the city by merging the archetypal function of a theatre - that of creating a world of illusion and enchantment - with the specific requirements of a regional theatre and its requisite to cater to the varied needs of the local community. The theatre is therefore designed with a dual emphasis on the chimeric nature of the world of the stage and the social aspects of the theatre experience. © Peter GuenzelAuditoria and acoustics Above the glazed lower levels of the facade, the upper portion comprises two layers of aluminium, Glimpses of the purple coloured back layer can be seen through circular perforations in the outer white panels, with LED lights fitted between the two facade layers to light the building in the evenings. Facade LightningIntegration and attainability Unique to the location is its connection with the water and the view to the nearby windmill, ‘Nooitgedacht’. The building volume is rounded so as to ensure as little wind flow disturbance to this nearby mill. © Peter GuenzelAlthough the demands of the regional theatre are many and varied, ways must be found to balance design ambitions with affordability. One means by which it was possible to save significant costs on construction was through the use of Design Information Modelling (DIM): a knowledge integrated performance driven design methodology employed during the design phases which affords the unique opportunity to test and to model spaces swiftly and in an integrated fashion.  played a crucial and important role in requesting the full DIM/BIM design process and the full BIM model will be used for the maintenance and management of the theatre in the future MVRDV designed this unique building near Rotterdam with 9,300 square meters of glass and reading material culminating into a wide open reading space at the top to challenge the intimidating stuffiness of libraries of old Featuring a huge glass and timber outer shell with books stacked on shelves that wind around brick walls and filled with natural light during the day the building was meant to symbolize accessibilty to literature and learning Its beacon-like design and naturally flowing open spaces house over 70,000 books and the building runs on a graywater system and the racks are made of recycled KLP plastics Book Mountain won the Dutch National Wood award in 2012 This medieval manuscript collection has some of the most obscure and ancient texts in the world This public library and its impressive collection of academic books have not changed since the 17th century and more in the largest public postcard repository in America This gorgeous reading room houses the oldest and largest art history library in the Netherlands The world's oldest Jewish library was founded by Sephardic Jews in 17th century Amsterdam One of the largest collections of Catalan literature and cultural materials outside of Spain A jaw-dropping "megalibrary" that turns book-browsing into a geometric adventure this Toronto bookstore has the world's first "Biblio-Mat," a random book vending machine The police arrested a member of outlaw motorcycle gang Caloh Wagoh in connection with the murder of Belgian businessman Stefaan Bogaerts in Spijkenisse in September last year was arrested in a cell in Alphen aan den Rijn where he was already in custody for another crime The Belgian businessman was gunned down at close range while sitting in his car on Lisstraat on September 21st last year which was later found burning at Oude Maas in Barendrecht the police found the remains of clothes that they believe belonged to the perpetrators Bogaerts earned a living by buying and selling sea containers but he turned out to also have large debts that he kept hidden The police suspect that he had become involved in the sale of hard drugs which led to a conflict that resulted in his death At the De Akkers metro station in Rotterdam’s suburb of Spijkenisse on November 2nd a metro train breached the station's end barriers and nearly plummeted over 30 feet from the elevated rails All that saved the train and its operator was the fact the front carriage was caught and held aloft by one of two whale tail sculptures near the end of the track.  sustained no injuries and was able to leave the vehicle—all while his two-ton carriage was perilously perched upon the fluke of the sculpture The two plastic tails stand equal in height to the metro's rails they are true to the scale of a real blue whale’s tail In a further play on words nobody expected The sculptures originally named "Walvisstaarten" ("Whale Tails") were created and erected in 2002 by a team of architects Following the miraculous events of November 2nd however local authorities renamed it "Saved by a Whale’s Tail." Early concepts considered modeling the sculpture after the tail of a local fish the much more substantial whale tail was chosen instead Designed with Rotterdam’s heavy winds in mind the artwork needed to resemble and honor the natural proportions of a blue whale's tail while also being able to endure the elements The design's aerodynamics were tested in a wind tunnel similar to the manner in which airplanes are tested.  Almost 20 years after they were first installed their creator Maarten Struijs was amazed that they had been able to support the train without breaking or crumbling one of the tails contains an internal steel structure which is hollow and consists solely of six-millimeter thick plastic that was able to support the impact and weight of the runaway train The fantastic sight of the train precariously balanced on the tail attracted so many onlookers that by the late morning local authorities had to disperse the crowd These sandstone replicas of a whale spine represent the history and culture of the Canary Islands Hundreds of "animals" created from scrap metal A great white whale sculpture now sits in the location where the remains of a prehistoric cetacean were found This gnome sculpture and his wonderous hat forces train passengers to do a double-take Life-sized sculpture of a blue whale made of hand-recycled plastic trash A scrap-metal sculpture recalls an infamous 19th-century camel A huge work of Burning Man-inspired outsider art on the grounds of a California winery The statue of the famous elephant who was the original source of the word "jumbo" John Brownlee is a design writer who lives in Somerville, Massachusetts. You can email him at john.brownlee+fastco@gmail.com 05-28-2015ASIDES Who wants to build a real-life version of the dollar bill’s cyclops-capped Freemason pyramid BY John Brownlee Just outside of Rotterdam in the Netherlands there is a small island township called Spijkenisse that’s criss-crossed with imaginary bridges But how can bridges be imaginary when they physically exist In the latest episode of his ongoing series, Things You Might Not Know YouTube personality Tom Scott explains the curious history of Spijkenisse bridges: When the European Central Bank was first designing the Euro back in 2002, it decided to put bridges on bank notes as a symbol of the link between all E.U. countries. The only problem was that there were 12 E.U. member nations at the time, but only seven bank notes. So they hired Austrian designer Robert Kalina to come up with seven fictional bridges to put on every European note single-handedly claiming all of the Euro’s imaginary bridges for the Dutch to take a page out of Spijkenisse’s book and build a real-life version of the dollar bill’s cyclops-capped Freemason pyramid [via Archdaily] The final deadline for Fast Company’s Brands That Matter Awards is Friday, May 30, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today. John Brownlee is a design writer who lives in Somerville, Massachusetts. You can email him at john.brownlee+fastco@gmail.com. More Fast Company & Inc © 2025 Mansueto Ventures Fastcompany.com adheres to NewsGuard’s nine standards of credibility and transparency. Learn More "But it's really lucky that the tail can bear the weight of the train."The suspended tram car could be seen by passers-by in the streets below Amid calls on social media to leave it as a permanent addition to the artwork Rotterdam Metro and local officials said it would not be safe.Engineers were studying how the tram car and several others derailed behind it could be safely removed.Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Giles Elgood Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved Nathalie Rosbergen cannot wait to start as GM of Carlton Oasis: "It is a new chapter in my career that I look forward to with great pleasure Of course this is a challenging time to start as a GM but I am convinced that with my sales background I will bring a bit of the winning mentality to Spijkenisse The Carlton Oasis is a beautiful hotel with many possibilities so I come to work in familiar territory and the Rotterdam hands-on mentality is still there has advised Belgian real estate fund Forum Estates on the acquisition of joint venture Winkelcentrum Maaswijk te Spijkenisse B.V Forum Estates has acquired the shares in Winkelcentrum Maaswijk te Spijkenisse B.V. The shopping centre has a total floor area of 7,100 m2 divided over two supermarkets (Jumbo and Lidl) and is let to national chains such as Kruidvat construction has just begun on dutch firm MVRDV‘s ‘book mountain’ project the new public library with a surface of 10,000 m² will be located in the inner city of spijkenisse, netherlands. in addition to the book collection and reading areas, the library will accommodate commercial facilities, offices, an auditorium, conference rooms, and exhibition spaces. ‘book mountain’ project by MVRDV image courtesy MVRDV happening now! partnering with antonio citterio, AXOR presents three bathroom concepts that are not merely places of function, but destinations in themselves — sanctuaries of style, context, and personal expression. Stibbe advised Kinepolis group on the acquisition of US movie theater chain MJR Digital Cinemas and Arcaplex Spijkenisse BV, a Netherlands-based company that operates cinema, in the framework of its international expansion. The acquisition of MJR Digital Cinemas is a logical add-on following the strategic acquisition of Landmark Cinemas in Canada and is proof of how a leading Belgian company can further expand internationally, thus moving up the chain amongst the worldwide top of theatre operators. Photo: 010FotograafA metro train serving the town of Spijkenisse has crashed through the barrier at the end of the track and only the sculpture of a whale has stopped it plummeting into the water below The train is now suspended 10 metres above a footpath and is likely to remain there for some time ‘We are trying to decide how we can bring the train down in a careful and controlled manner,’ a local safety board spokesman told broadcaster NOS The accident happened at the De Akkers metro station which is the terminus for two metro routes C (from Capelle aan den IJssel) and D (from Rotterdam) The driver was able to leave the train himself and was taken to hospital for a check-up Police say no-one else was on the train at the time The driver was later arrested and interviewed by police but a spokesman for transport operator RET said this was standard procedure for incidents involving trains ‘It’s not because we think he caused the accident,’ said the spokesman ‘It’s part of the investigation.’ The crash happened just before midnight and woke people living in the nearby houses ‘It was a noise that lasted two or three seconds,’ one said ‘I realized that there was something on the tail… I thought “something very odd is happening here”.’ Local metro services between Hoogvliet and Spijkenisse have been cancelled is made of polyester and is the work of Maarten Struijs The tails were placed in the water at the end of the metro tracks in 2002 ‘If the metro had driven into the other tail, I think it would have crashed through,’ Struijs told AD.nl but it’s a bonus that the train is being supported by the tail.’ We could not provide the Dutch News service without the generous support of our readers Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day Many thanks to everyone who has donated to DutchNews.nl in recent days We could not provide this service without you Please help us making DutchNews.nl a better read by taking part in a short survey The metro that drove through a stop block and landed on a whale tale statue at the De Akkers metro station in Spijkenisse on November 2 a recent investigation from the Rotterdam public transport network The empty metro shot through the bumper and miraculously hung from a whale tail artwork The accident caused one million euros in damage the ramp subway did not have rail brakes which would have better suited the conditions at the time The security system was also inadequate the investigation showed The track on which the accident occurred lacked an additional emergency buffer to stop the metro The bumper with which the subway collided was unable to withstand a speed greater than 15 km/h The metro crashed through the stop block at 45 km/h A speed limit of 35 km/h is allowed on the sidetrack The driver did not respond for the first five seconds The investigators said that had he reacted five seconds earlier the outcome would still have been the same The driver was suspended for the time being as is customary when such an incident happens Unick emphasized the driver has not been accused of any malpractice He cooperated fully with the investigation Unck stated the training for drivers will be tightened To prevent such an accident from repeating itself the RET temporarily reduced the speed limit on the parking lanes from 35 km/h to 20 km/h The track at De Akkers is still out of service Please view the main text area of the page by skipping the main menu. The page may not be displayed properly if the JavaScript is deactivated on your browser. Copyright THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS. All rights reserved. is also the architect who designed the De Akkers station the whale tail sculpture was installed at the end of the railroad track because of the support of local residents Struijs initially tried to install a whale tail sculpture but 'gradually leaned towards the idea of trying another idea.' However after receiving a voice from local residents saying 'I should have promised to install a whale tail sculpture!' He explained that he finally decided to install two whale tail sculptures at the end of the railroad track 'I'm surprised that the sculpture is very sturdy,' Struijs said adding that he hopes the sculpture will be restored Struijs taking a picture of a subway car riding on a sculpture of a whale's tail that he made North Korea has taken measures to set up land mines at the border, kill infected people, and execute misguided officials as a countermeasure against the new corona. Nov 04, 2020 13:23:00 in Vehicle