THE NETHERLANDS | Railways

[Cpt.Iglo]

The Netherlands got many old trainstations. Some examples:

Amsterdam:



The Hague:
image hosted on flickr



Groningen:



Haarlem:


Zwolle:



There are also some smaller cities with old trainstations:

Leeuwarden


Valkenburg


Middelburg



That's it. I hope you like the Dutch trainstations

[iampuking]

Do you have any pics of the trainsheds?

And yes, they are very beautiful and well maintained.

[Hybrid 87]

is it just me or do they all look a bit the same???

[iampuking]

There is a similar style, but they're decorated differently.

[GVNY]

Originally Posted by Hybrid 87

is it just me or do they all look a bit the same???

Just you, unfortunately.

[SmarterChild]

I thought the trainstation in the hague is a large shabby concrete building? and is it true the Amsterdam Centraal is actually sinking?

[Momo1435]

Good that you say that because the 1st picture is from The Hague HS (Hollands Spoor) station and the second is the interior from the much newer Den Haag Centraal station. Centraal is indeed a shabby concrete building, although they're renovating it right now. They are the two main stations of The Hague.

[ChrisZwolle]

Zwolle has a nice trainstation indeed It has been build in 1864, and is thus now 144 years old. Though it's not a very large trainstation, it is one of the most important in the Netherlands, it has 7 (future 8) radiating railway lines, though the importance of the railway yard is diminishing. There are plans to rehabilitate the whole area called "Spoorzone", or "railway zone" in English.

It has also an important busstation, with buses sometimes queuing up the area, though it is mostly used by students and the elderly.

[Crownsteler]

Originally Posted by iampuking

Do you have any pics of the trainsheds?

And yes, they are very beautiful and well maintained.

Amsterdam Centraal:

notice the flying wheel on the left shed



Den Haag Hollands Spoor:


Haarlem:

[Tubeman]

Originally Posted by Crownsteler

Amsterdam Centraal:

notice the flying wheel on the left shed

Those trainshed roofs remind me a lot of Newcastle Central (UK)

[Caisson Boy]

Well, OK, it's not in Holland, but there is a strong Dutch heritage in many of our buildings in Cape Town. This is Muizenberg Station, on Cape Metrorail's Southern Line:

image hosted on flickr


[IMG][/IMG]

[Mathijzzz]

The station of Apeldoorn still has it's monumental station but it's completely renovated and placed into a new trainstation.

How it is now:


What it was:


I

[woutero]

I couldn’t find a thread on Dutch Railways, so I thought I’d start one. If there's already one: feel free to ignore this.

The Dutch Railway system is not as extensive as the railway systems in neighbouring Belgium and Germany (in route length per inhabitant or route length per square kilometer) but is nevertheless quite extensive and VERY heavily used.

It consists of about 2.800 km of railway track of which 75% is electrified, and 2/3rds has double, triple or quadruple tracks. It serves 383 train stations. The tracks are owned and maintained by ProRail, a state controlled company.

The system is operated by different companies, of which the NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – Dutch Railways) is the largest. NS operates all main lines of the network. NS’s only shareholder is the State of The Netherlands. NS also owns and operates most railway stations. Other companies that operate (regional) railways include Arriva, Connexxion, Synthus and Veolia.

There are a couple of different kinds of trains:

• Stoptreinen/sprinters are local trains, which stop at each stop
• Sneltreinen stop at fewer stops
• Intercity trains only stop at intercity stations

On most stretches the maximum speed is 140 km/h. Due to heavy use and a mix of local and fast trains, higher speeds would result in lower capacity.

The Dutch railway system is said to be the most heavily used system in Europe, and third in the world (source wikipedia, not sure which would be first and second). Its usage much resembles the use of the highway network (about which there is an extensive thread on this forum): very heavy use, and an messy mix of local, regional and longer distance travelers.

Some numbers:

• NS (so excluding the other operators) transport 1,1 million passengers per day (on a national population of 16 million).
• NS operates about 4.500 train rides/routes per day
• NS accounts for 15,5 billion passenger km per year
• NS employs 26.000 people
• Punctuality in 2007 was 87% (means 87% of the trains were on time, which means less than 3 minutes delay)

In the last decade the system has been upgraded. Many capacity bottlenecks have been resolved by creating railway flyovers to prevent trains from crossing each others paths, and by creating four track railways on the busiest stretches. Some new railway stretches have been constructed (such as the Betuwelijn between Rotterdam and the German border for freight, and the high speed line Amsterdam – Rotterdam - Brussels - Paris), and some stretches are under construction (like the Hanzelijn between Lelystad and Zwolle, offering a faster connection to the Northern Netherlands). Some regional lines have been ‘downgraded’ to regional lightrail lines (like the Hofpleinlijn and the Zoetermeerlijn).

To give you an idea of the intensity of use of the system:

• On the stretch between Utrecht and Amsterdam, 12 trains per hour pass per direction outside rush hours.
• Many of the trains can hold up to 700 people per train.
• 250.000 people use Amsterdam Central Staion daily (not sure if this includes subway and tram users).
• When the high speed rail between Amsterdam and Rotterdam be operational, it will have 6 trains per hour per direction.
• On the most rural routes there are usually still two trains per hour. Very few lines only have one train per hour.

Bad points:

• Due to heavy use delays often occur.
• Train speeds are not very high. On most intercity lines 140 km/h is the maximum speed.
• The train often feels more like a metro system, which takes away some of the charm.
• International routes are limited. There are only two rail connections with Belgium, and six with Germany.
• Train system does not reach all towns.

Some images:

Network (red is 1 track, blue is 2 tracks, green is 3 tracks, yellow is 4 tracks)


Common trains:




Thalys (which won't go fast until HSL is finished)


sprinter:

[Cpt.Iglo]

Some Dutch trainstations:

Amsterdam:


The Hague:
image hosted on flickr


Groningen:



Haarlem:


Zwolle:



There are also some smaller cities with old trainstations:

Leeuwarden


Valkenburg


Middelburg



A few more Dutch trains:


New Sprinter


Spurt

[brisbanite]

Thanks for the pic's Woutero, I love the Dutch railway system.

[woutero]

Some additional info on international and night trains:

Current international trains (not all stops mentioned):

• 1 Intercity train per hour: Amsterdam – Rotterdam – Antwerp - Brussels
• 4 Intercity trains per day: Amsterdam – Hengelo – Hannover - Berlin
• 8 ICE (High Speed) trains per day: Amsterdam – Köln – Frankfurt (1 continues to Basel, 1 to Munich)
• 7 Thalys (High Speed) trains per day: Amsterdam – Rotterdam – Antwerp – Brussels - Paris

The High Speed Trains still run slow on the regular Dutch tracks. But that will change (at least for the ones to the south) once the HSL is finished.


High Speed Trains when the HSL will be in use (expected as of october 2008):

• 1 train per hour Amsterdam – Schiphol – Rotterdam – Antwerp – Brussels – Paris
• 1 train per hour Amsterdam – Schiphol – Rotterdam – Antwerp – Brussels
• 2 trains per hour Amsterdam – Schiphol – Rotterdam – Breda
• 2 trains per hour Amsterdam – Schiphol – Rotterdam
• 8 trains per day The Hague – Rotterdam – Breda – Noorderkempen – Antwerp – Mechelen - Brussels

Current international night trains:

• 1 train per day Amsterdam - Warsaw/Moscow/Minsk (splits)
• 1 train per day Amsterdam - Copenhagen/Prague (splits)
• 1 train per day Amsterdam - Milan/Vienna (splits)
• 1 train per day Amsterdam - Munich/Zurich (splits) (in winter to Garmisch Partenkirchen)
• 1 train per week ’s-Hertogenbosch - Bologna (summer only) (car/sleep train)
• 1 train per week ’s-Hertogenbosch - Livorno (summer only) (car/sleep train)
• 1 train per week ’s-Hertogenbosch - Avignon (summer only) (car/sleep train)
• 1 train per week Utrecht – Bisschofshofen (winter only)
• 1 train per week Utrecht – Innsbruck (winter only)
• 1 train per week Utrecht – Lausanne (winter only)

Domestic night trains:

• Each night an hourly service between Utrecht – Amsterdam – Schiphol – Leiden – The Hague – Rotterdam
• On thu, fri and sat nights hourly service Utrecht – ’s-Hertogenbosch – Eindhoven
• On thu, fri and sat nights hourly service Rotterdam – Dordrecht – Breda – Tilburg – Eindhoven
• On thu, fri and sat nights hourly service ’s-Hertogenbosch – Tilburg
• Some additional trains run on Saturday nights (e.g. Utrecht– Veendendaal - Ede – Arnhem – Nijmegen)

[sweek]

Just so you know, those first and second busiest systems are Japan and probably Switzerland. Which is in Europe, but not in the EU, so I guess it's the busiest in the EU.

[Zaqattaq]

I love NS

[Timon91]

I just read that the new Sprinter won't have any toilets on board. Strange, because the direct train from Alkmaar to Rotterdam CS (journey of 2h30) is a sprinter.

[RzgR Spijkenisse]

Come on, only blind people would take that train, most other travellers would Change trains in A'dam and travel by InterCiy in one hour between both cities. So. if you wanna poo between A'dam and R'dam, take the IC, it has a toilet on board. Dont forget, there is a HighSpeedRail coming in the next four years.