Transportation in the Netherlands

Table of contents
1 Rail transport (heavy rail)
2 Public transport in general
3 Other public transport
4 Other transport
5 See also
6 External links

Rail transport (heavy rail)

Railway tracks

(2001)

  • all standard gauge (1.435 m) (from 1839 till the early 1850s 1.945 m; it was regretted because Germany and Belgium had 1.435 m, see [1])
  • total: 2,809 km (multiple track counted once)
  • electrified: 2,061 km (2001), 1,500 volt DC, see w:nl:Elektrificatie#Nederland.
  • single track: 931 km.
  • total length of tracks 6,505 km (multiple track counted multiple times).
  • 3,004 level crossings, of which 2,144 protected.

Two new lines are being constructed: the HSL (see below) and a freight line from Rotterdam to Germany, the Betuweroute.

Two railway arcs will be ready in December 2003:

A third arc being constructed is: ProRail takes care of maintenance and extensions of the national railway network infrastructure (not the metro or tram), allocating rail capacity, and traffic control.

The rail capacity supplied by ProRail is used by five public transport operators (see below) as well as cargo operators: Railion, ERS, ACTS, Shortlines. Also there is Herik Rail, with seven carriages, where trains can be chartered for parties, meetings, etc. The other charter train company is the NESM Nostalgie Expresse; this company makes a lot of trips with historic (steam) trains. They also run some dance and partytrains. See also [1]

There are two crossings of regular railway lines, both non-level and with a train station providing stops on both lines: Amsterdam Sloterdijk (ass) and Duivendrecht (dvd). A third crossing is under construction east of Zoetermeer, also non-level but without stops, one line is the HSL.

Non-electrified lines

(with timetable number)

Railways for public transport

Trains have 1st and 2nd class.

See also:

International trains

Night service

There is a night service, called Nachtnet (Night Network, although it is just a single U-shaped line) with an hourly service connecting Rotterdam Central, Delft, The Hague Central, Leiden Central, Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam Central, Utrecht Central. Due to the U-shape, the travelling time from the first four stations to Utrecht is longer than during the day.

Public transport in general

For metro and tram there are no night services. There are night buses in a number of cities, usually on Friday and Saturday night only, sometimes only during the first part of the night, and per line often in one direction only; e.g. de Connexxion-Niteliner [1].

A public transport pass for train (2nd class), bus, metro and tram costs 3099.50 euro/year (2004). It is also valid on the ferries Vlissingen-Breskens, Amsterdam-IJmuiden and Rotterdam-Dordrecht. It is not valid on most other ferries, nor on the Thalys. Night services by train are included, those by bus are not.

Other public transport

(see also Airports below)

All metros, trams and buses (except the neighborhood buses and night buses) share the National Tariff System.

Metro

(all standard gauge (1.435 m))

Tram / light rail

(all standard gauge (1.435 m))
  • Amsterdam, Diemen, Amstelveen, operated by GVB
    • power 600 volt DC

  • Rotterdam, Schiedam, operated by RET
    • lines: 1 Schiedam Woudhoek - CS - De Esch, 2 Charlois - Lombardijen NS, 3 Kleiweg NS - CS - Diergaarde Blijdorp, 4 Molenlaan - CS - Marconiplein(M) - (in peak hours to Schiedam Broersvest), 5 Schiebroek - CS - Willemsplein, 7 Spangen - CS - Woudestein, 8 Spangen - CS - Oostplein, 20 CS - Beverwaard, 23 CS - Feijenoord Stadion

  • The Hague, Rijswijk, Leidschendam-Voorburg, Delft, Nootdorp, operated by Haagsche Tramweg Maatschappij (HTM)
    • power 600 volt DC

  • Utrecht, Nieuwegein, IJsselstein, operated by Connexxion (light rail in the sense of intermediate form between tram and train, with its own right-of-way, with level crossings with priority).
    • Stops for both branches: Moreelsepark - Stadsbusstation - Westplein - Graadt van Roggenweg - Ziekenhuis Oudenrijn - Vijf Meiplein - Vasco da Gamalaan - Kanaleneiland Zuid - Westraven - Zuilenstein - Batau Noord - Wijckersloot - Nieuwegein Centrum.
    • Further stops for Nieuwegein branche: Merwestein - Fokkesteeg - Wiersdijk - Nieuwegein Zuid.
    • Further stops for IJsselstein branche: St. Antonius Ziekenhuis - Doorslag - Hooge Waard - Eiteren - Clinckhoef - Achterveld.

  • Houten, operated by NS (light rail line, could be called metro, though not underground, with its own right-of-way, without level crossings).
    • power 1500 volt DC (tram has been adapted with a so-called 'downchopper' to allow the use of this higher voltage), overhead wires
    • picture: [1]

Randstad Rail is a plan (expected to be operative in 2006) to:
  • connect the Erasmus Line of the Rotterdam metro system to the existing railway Hofplein Line that would be converted from heavy rail to light rail, allowing the Rotterdam metro trains to run to the Hague Centraal railway station; at the north end of the Hofplein Line a new connection would be made with the Hague Centraal to keep heavy rail and light rail apart;
  • connect tram lines 3 and 6 in The Hague with the existing railway Zoetermeer Line that would also be converted from heavy rail to light rail and would be extended with a new Oosterheem Line which would become part of line 6; existing tram tracks would be adapted for longer and wider vehicles
(see www.randstadrail.nl).

In 2003 construction will start of a light rail line between Maastricht and Kerkrade.

See also RijnGouweLijn.

Bus

A special bus line is the Zuidtangent, which has largely its own bus lane, with priority at crossings [1].

Route: Haarlem - Hoofddorp - Schiphol Airport - Amstelveen - Amsterdam southeast

Arnhem has an electric trolleybus system.

Bus companies include Arriva, Connex, Connexxion, Hermes, NoordNed, Syntus.

Hermes operates in the southeast of the Netherlands, see [1].

Other transport

Highways:
total: 125,575 km
paved: 113,018 km (including 2,235 km of expressways)
unpaved: 12,557 km (1998 est.)

National highways (incomplete) (see [1]):

  • A1 Amsterdam - Oldenzaal (De Lutte) - Germany (A30)
  • A2/E35/E25 Amsterdam - Maastricht- Visé (Belgium)
  • A4/E19 Amsterdam - Den haag / Intersection Markiezaat - Belgium Border (Antwerp)
  • A6 Muiderberg (A1) - Joure (A7)
  • A7 Zaandam - Afsluitdijk - Groningen - Nieuweschans - Germany (A280)
  • A8 Coentunnel - Assendelft
  • A9 Alkmaar - Diemen (A1)
  • A10 Ring-road Amsterdam
  • A12/E30/E25/E35 Scheveningen - Bergh (German border A3)
  • A13/E19 Den Haag (A4)- Rotterdam (A20)
  • A16/E19 Rotterdam - Dordrecht - Breda - Belgium
  • A20/E25 Maasdijk - Rotterdam - Gouda

Waterways: 5,046 km, of which 47% is usable by craft of 1,000 metric ton capacity or larger, see List of waterways and [1].

Pipelines: crude oil 418 km; petroleum products 965 km; natural gas 10,230 km

Ports and harbors: Amsterdam, Delfzijl, Den Helder, Dordrecht, Eemshaven, Groningen, Haarlem, IJmuiden, Maastricht, Rotterdam, Terneuzen, Utrecht, Vlissingen)

Merchant marine:
total: 563 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 4,035,899 GRT/4,576,841 DWT
ships by type: bulk 3, cargo 343, chemical tanker 41, combination bulk 2, container 56, liquified gas 20, livestock carrier 1, multi-functional large load carrier 8, passenger 8, petroleum tanker 25, refrigerated cargo 32, roll-on/roll-off 16, short-sea passenger 3, specialized tanker 5 (1999 est.)
note: many Dutch-owned ships are also operating under the registry of Netherlands Antilles (1998 est.)

Airports: 28 (1999 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 19
over 3,047 m: 2
2,438 to 3,047 m: 7
1,524 to 2,437 m: 6
914 to 1,523 m: 3
under 914 m: 1 (1999 est.)
The largest airport by far is Schiphol Airport near Amsterdam, which is actually one of the largest of Europe. Smaller airports with regular passenger service are Zestienhoven near Rotterdam, Eelde near Groningen, Twenthe airport near Enschede, Eindhoven airport and Maastricht-Aachen airport.

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 9
914 to 1,523 m: 3
under 914 m: 6 (1999 est.)

Heliports: 1 (1999 est.)

See also

External links

Railway maps:

Line maps for other public transport:

The maps of Carto Studio's site [1], though meant only as examples, may also be of some use.

Oddly and unfortunately, for large parts of the Netherlands bus line maps do not seem to be available on the web. However, they are often posted at bus stops and can sometimes also be obtained on paper in bus information offices (sometimes in a less detailed version, e.g. without bus stops being marked). Connexxion has 13 maps on paper that can be sent by mail on request, see [1].

Maps showing all streets and also public transport

General map showing railways and stations well (i.e. also in smaller scales), but, oddly, without station names:

  • NS rail travel planner - contains a detailed map of the whole country; to view a location, specify it as destination and choose an arbitrary point of departure, then ask for the route map of the post transport from the train station. If you specify "Public transport" as means of pre or post transport, you will be redirected to http://www.ovr.nl with the corresponding map.

General map showing railways well, but stations only in larger scales, with station names popping up:

General map showing railways well, but stations only when highly zoomed in, and no station names:

  • Yellow pages / Telephone directory - A map (plattegrond) is provided after searching for a company or person; if one just wants to use the map, do an arbitrary search like [1] , select Plattegrond and by zooming out and selecting an area to zoom in go to any part of the map.

Of these three, only the NS map shows metro lines, without stations, and none show tram or bus lines. www.ovr.nl shows only the single bus stop concerned on the map, not the line or the other stops.

For general maps see also Geography of the Netherlands#External links. There are hardly any maps on Internet that show virtually all streets as well as tram or bus lines (the maps of Dordrecht and Werkendam mentioned above seem to be the only ones, with on the latter not all lines). However, such maps are available on paper for many cities.

Lighthouse patterns