page_title: Hembrug
section_title: Bridge
hierarchical_section_title: Hembrug / Bridge
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Gezicht op de Hemtunnel en het Noordzeekanaal vanaf het noorden. Het oude Hembrug tracé is links nog steeds te onderscheiden. September 2013
context_page_description: The name Hembrug refers to various geographic entities in the municipality of Zaanstad, in the Netherlands.
context_section_description: The Hembrug is the name given to a swing bridge built in 1878 to carry the railroad between Amsterdam and Zaandam in the Netherlands across the North Sea Canal, and to its replacement, a longer and higher bridge built between 1903 and 1907, after the canal had been widened to cater for an increase in ship traffic. The newer bridge was approached by a long embankment, to enable the railroad to reach deck level on a moderate grade or slope.
  During World War II, the bridge, which provided railroad access to the northern part of Holland, was rigged with demolition charges by the Germans, who loaded the central pier with 400 boxes, each containing 3 kilograms of explosives.  Twice those explosives were removed by Dutch resistance operatives: on the night of 26 September 1944, two members of the local swimming team, Jaap Boll and Remmert Aten, dived down and got into the central pier by way of an underwater opening, and removed the explosives. The Germans discovered that the explosives had been removed when they saw packaging material floating around, so Remmert Aten swam down a second time, after the explosives had been replaced.
  The operation of the bridge was twice disrupted by ships colliding with it. On 20 October 1974 Santa Fe Construction's semi-submersible derrick lay barge Choctaw II caused damage which was not completely repaired.
  The bridge was made obsolete by the construction of the Hemtunnel, which became operational in 1983. On 27 May 1983 the last train passed over the bridge. Denied the status of Rijksmonument, the spans were removed later that year, and the bridge piers felled by explosives in the spring of 1985.
caption: The ship in the center of the image is almost exactly where the Hembrug used to be.
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