Amsterdam is still in a state of shock following the collapse of a building in Cologne on Tuesday afternoon, report the Dutch press. Both cities are currently building a north-south metro line and tunnelling work is the most likely cause for the collapse of the city archive building in the German city.

Christian Democrat MP Ger Koopmans has called for an emergency debate on the Amsterdam’s north-south metro line.
In the Telegraaf he describes the project as ‘an over-estimation of technology and an under-estimation of the complexity and cooperation [involved]’. And he claims that costs have soared to €2.5bn.
The construction company Züblin, which drilled the tunnel under the Cologne city archive, is also working on the metro tunnels under Amsterdam, together with the Dutch company Dura Vermeer.
Amsterdam city council is in close contact with Cologne. A spokesman for the Amsterdam project told the Telegraaf that if the construction of the metro is found to be the cause for the collapse of the Cologne building, Amsterdam would ‘learn from it’.
Amsterdam has already suffered subsidence from the construction of the metro stations. A row of houses on the Vijzelgracht subsided last summer and the inhabitants had to be rehoused. Drilling for the tunnels has yet to start.