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 2006 as the first freight-only route.
The network is well developed and dense. Over the last decades, there has been only little expansion of the network; instead, most attention is focused on upgrading the network in terms of efficiency and capacity. As of 2008, the issue of speed is also getting more attention, as there are plans to increase maximum speeds to 160 km/h on some sections.
Some important new lines have been 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 the maximum speed is lower. On the new 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 most lines in the country and up to 8 or 10 trains an hour between the big cities. Trains are divided into two categories: stoptreinen (local trains, which call at all stations; these are called Sprinters on some lines) and intercities, which provide fast connections between the bigger cities. An intermediate category of sneltreinen (fast trains) is being phased out, starting in 2007, but is still used by smaller operators. In practice there was little difference between the sneltrein and the intercities, so this change is little more than a re-branding.
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 2809 route-kilometers or 6505 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 takes care of maintenance and extensions of the national railway network infrastructure (but excluding metros and trams, for which see below), 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 tiny operators, amongst whom for example Herik Rail, with seven carriages, where trains can be chartered for parties, meetings, etc.
Read more about this topic: Rail Transport In The Netherlands
Famous quotes containing the word network:
“Parents need all the help they can get. The strongest as well as the most fragile family requires a vital network of social supports.”
—Bernice Weissbourd (20th century)
“How have I been able to live so long outside Nature without identifying myself with it? Everything lives, moves, everything corresponds; the magnetic rays, emanating either from myself or from others, cross the limitless chain of created things unimpeded; it is a transparent network that covers the world, and its slender threads communicate themselves by degrees to the planets and stars. Captive now upon earth, I commune with the chorus of the stars who share in my joys and sorrows.”
—Gérard De Nerval (1808–1855)
“A culture may be conceived as a network of beliefs and purposes in which any string in the net pulls and is pulled by the others, thus perpetually changing the configuration of the whole. If the cultural element called morals takes on a new shape, we must ask what other strings have pulled it out of line. It cannot be one solitary string, nor even the strings nearby, for the network is three-dimensional at least.”
—Jacques Barzun (b. 1907)