National railway Nederlandse Spoorwegen Ridership 438 million per year | Infrastructure company Railinfratrust Passenger km 17.1 billion per year | |
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Major operators NS International
Arriva
Connexxion
Syntus
Veolia Freight 36.5 million ton per year | ||
Rail transport in the Netherlands uses a dense railway network, that connects virtually all major towns and cities, counting as many train stations as there are municipalities in the Netherlands. The network totals 3,223 route km, (which represents 6,830 kilometres of track as there can be a line running both ways, or two lines running each way on important routes) three quarters of which has been electrified.
Contents
- Operators
- History
- Network
- Recent and new tracks
- Non electrified lines
- Railway links with adjacent countries
- International trains
- Night service
- Fares and tickets
- Off peak discount passes
- Railways in the Dutch Caribbean
- References
The Dutch rail network supports predominantly passenger transport and also most distance travelled on Dutch public transport is done by rail. The national rail infrastructure is managed and maintained by public task company ProRail, and a number of different operators have concessions to run their trains. The entire network is standard gauge.
The Netherlands is a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for the Netherlands is 84.
Operators
Public transport authorities in the Netherlands issue concessions for collections of lines.
A few Dutch railway stations are serviced, even for journeys within the country, from foreign railway operators using the NS authorization:
Nationwide a common fare system applies although operators tend to use separate tariffs due to the concession system.
Most trains consist of both 1st and 2nd class compartiments; Syntus and occasionally Arriva only offer 2nd class compartiments.
The largest cargo carrier in the Netherlands is DB Schenker, others are ACTS, Crossrail, ERS Railways, Häfen und Güterverkehr Köln, Rail4chem and Veolia Cargo.
The whole network itself is maintained from the public owned agency ProRail, which is also responsible for allocating slots to the different companies.
History
The first Dutch railway was built and opened in 1839, on a short stretch between Amsterdam and Haarlem, and was expanded between 1840 and 1847 to The Hague and Rotterdam. It was originally built to a broad gauge of 1,945 mm (6 ft 4 9⁄16 in), but was converted to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) (standard gauge) in 1866. Further expansion happened in the 19th century to connect the rest of the country. During the 20th century most of the main lines were electrified, starting in 1908 with the Hofpleinlijn.
Network
The network is heavily focused on passenger rail services and connects virtually all major cities, although there are still a few cities without a train connection, including Nieuwegein, Drachten, Amstelveen, Oosterhout, and Katwijk.
Most freight routes run east-west, connecting the Port of Rotterdam and Koninklijke Hoogovens in IJmuiden with Germany. Freight trains usually share the tracks with passenger trains; the only exception is the new Betuweroute, which opened in 2007 as the first freight-only route.
The network is well developed and dense. No extensions are currently planned. One focuses on upgrading the network in terms of efficiency and capacity. More over, some sections might need an increase of the maximum speed up to 160 km/h.
Some important new lines were built in recent years, however. These include the HSL-Zuid high speed line, the Betuweroute and the Hanzelijn, connecting the province of Flevoland with the railway node Zwolle.
Most of the network is electrified at 1.5 kV DC, which limits interoperability with neighbouring countries, although Belgian trains (built for 3 kV DC) can run on the Dutch network at reduced power. Both the HSL-Zuid and the Betuweroute have been electrified at 25 kV AC, and it is planned to convert old lines to this voltage in the future.
Speed is generally limited to 130–140 km/h, but on most secondary lines actual maximum speed is significantly lower. On the HSL-Zuid line, the maximum speed is much higher at 300 km/h. Technically, more recent lines have been constructed to allow for higher speeds. An overview of maximum speeds on all lines is available in the Train routes in the Netherlands article.
Trains are frequent, with one or two trains per hour on lesser lines, two to four trains per hour on rural sections and up to 8 or 10 trains an hour in urban regions. One could distinguish two types of trains: stoptreinen (local trains, which call at all stations; Dutch Railways tend to call them Sprinters) and intercities, providing faster long-distance services. An intermediate category of sneltreinen (fast trains) is being phased out, starting in 2007, although regional operators continue to use this brand. One could barely distinguish differences between sneltrein and the intercities, so removing the sneltrein could be considered as a kind of rebranding.
The railways of the Netherlands are all 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) (standard gauge), and they have a total length of 3061 route-kilometers or 7028 track-kilometers. 2061 kilometers are electrified (2001) at 1500 volt DC. Only 931 km is single track. The country counts 3,004 level crossings, of which 2,144 are protected.
ProRail maintains Dutch railway network infrastructure (except metros and tram infrastructure), 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: DB Schenker, ERS, ACTS, Rail4Chem. Aside from these, there are a few negligible operators, amongst whom for example Herik Rail, with seven carriages, where trains can be chartered for parties, meetings, etc.
Recent and new tracks
Two stations are located at a bilevel crossing of railway lines: Amsterdam Sloterdijk and Duivendrecht.
Non-electrified lines
(with timetable number)
Railway links with adjacent countries
The Dutch network has several cross-border sections to Belgium and Germany. Of these, Terneuzen is linked to Belgium (freight-only), but not to the rest of the Dutch network. Contrarily, Lanaken (B) is connected to Maastricht (also freight only) but not to the Belgian network. Six cross-border links are electrified. Due to the difference in voltage, trains must change monovoltage locomotives at Bad Bentheim or Venlo; monovoltage Belgian 3 kV trains reach Roosendaal and Maastricht with reduced power. The HSL Zuid has no voltage change at the border itself. Alternatively, multi-system train units or diesel traction is used. Several border crossings are disused or freight-only. There are no breaks of gauge at any of the crossings.
To Germany, north to south:
To Belgium, east to west:
International trains
See also Rail transport by country, Europe.
Night service
NS offers a limited night service (Nachtnet).
On five nights a week it is just a single U-shaped stretch with an hourly service connecting Rotterdam Central, Delft, The Hague Central, Leiden Central, Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam Central, Utrecht Central (i.e., most of the large cities in the Randstad as well as the main airport). Due to the U-shape, journey time from the first five stations to Utrecht is longer than during day service. Because the relatively short distance between the stations, no separate sleepers are used.
During weekends night services are extended to Dordrecht and four cities in the Province of North Brabant.
On Friday and Saturday nights there is an additional service between Rotterdam and Amsterdam.
"Friday night" means the night between Friday and Saturday, etc.
Fares and tickets
Nationwide a common fare system applies, Via NS ticket machines, although operators tend to use separate fares due to the concession system and the recently introduced public transport card, which allows ticket integration and price differentiation.
Travellers need to be aware of the various operators. For off-peak pass subscribers, a station where one has to change operator one suffers barriers during peak hours.
Classical paper printed tickets were abolished as of 9 July, 2014. Nowadays ticket machines sell card board tickets containing an electric chip, but one has to pay a surcharge of € 1,- per ticket compared to the regular public transport card fees. These surcharge also applies on tickets sold via counters.
Passengers not carrying a valid ticket receive a €50,- fine plus the fare, unless the ticket machines were all out of order or some other exemption applies. The fine has to be paid at once except if the passenger is able to provide a valid identification card, in which case one can receive a collection notice in the mail. Travellers from abroad, commencing their Dutch train journey at Schiphol need to know that they have to buy a ticket before boarding the train.
One could buy on-line tickets through the Dutch Railways website, but payment can only be made via a Dutch Bank account. A workaround is to buy Dutch domestic train tickets online at the Belgian Railways website, which is able to sell these as it is part of the Benelux ticketing system, accepts major credit cards, and issues Dutch domestic fares as print-at-home tickets.
Off-peak discount passes
Counted as off-peak hours are weekdays 0:00-6:34:59, 8:55-16:04:59 and 18:25-24:00 and on Saturdays and Sundays the whole day. With a discount product on the pass one is automatically granted the discount based on the type of the discount product and the time of checking in. The term discount includes 100% discount, i.e. free travel.
There is an Off-Peak Discount Pass (in Dutch: Dal Voordeel) for €50,- / year, allowing a 40% discount on journeys starting in off-peak hours. Up to 4 people could enjoy the reduced far if they are in possession of a public transport card.
For a single € 14,- supplement, people over 60 years grant for free travel during off-peak hours on 7 days a year. Apart from some restrictions these subscribers could upload these free travel journeys themselves. One could only buy this supplement once a year.
There is also an Off-Peak Free Pass (in Dutch: Dal Vrij) for €99,-/ month (minimum 1-year subscription), allowing free journeys which each start in the off-peak hours (compare the OV-Jaarabonnement). Here "journey" refers to a journey with a single operator. Thus, for free travel, changing to a train of a different operator has to be in the off-peak hours too.
For €309,- / month (minimum 1-year subscription), travelers can buy Altijd Vrij, for unlimited all day traveling.
Use of all these passes requires checking in at the beginning of a journey and checking out at the end, otherwise the traveller risks a fine.
Regulations involving time periods:
Railways in the Dutch Caribbean
Saba, Sint Eustatius and Bonaire (the Caribbean Netherlands) have no railways, and there are no railways at Sint Maarten and Curaçao. There is a local tram service on Aruba, introduced in 2012 and operated by bus company Arubus. Construction took place in cooperation with Haguish tramway company HTM. Rolling stock consists of one open, non-articulated single-decker and two open double-deckers. These trams run on standard gauge. Two industrial narrow-gauge railway lines have existed on Aruba, but those have been removed.