1.1] Maps: Maps are essential to interpreting what is said in the paragraphs below. The basic map references given are to Michael Ball’s European Railway Atlas, first published in 1991 by Ian Allan. Other useful resources are listed below.

• A map of Benelux rail infrastructure, indicating single or multiple track and electrification, is at http://bueker.net/trainspotting/maps.php.
• Detailed track-plans by Sven Zeegers are at http://www.sporenplan.nl/html_nl/sporenplan/ns/ns_normaal/start.html.
• Closed lines are shown on a series of maps showing the development of the Netherlands rail network (at ten-year intervals from 1850 to 2000) at http://www.antenna.nl/cnt/spoorzoeker/spoorkrt/spk0000.htm.
• A map of the complete network of interurban and local tramways in 1931, showing almost all former tram lines, is at http://www.antenna.nl/cnt/spoorzoeker/spk1931/ovz.htm.
• Fuller details of most light-rail projects mentioned below, especially non-official proposals, are at the Light Rail Atlas site http://www.xs4all.nl/~rajvdb/lra/index.html.

1.2] Terminology: The term ‘light-rail network’ or ‘light-rail system’ is probably best used to describe a system like that of Manchester or Saarbrücken, with tram-type vehicles running on-street in the city-centre and running on existing railway lines and/or new tracks outside it.

1.3] However the term ‘light rail’ - in English - has in recent years been used very loosely by the Dutch media to mean almost any new urban-transport proposal. Some projects are under construction, some are official studies, and some are simply suggestions by local councillors and others. Most involve existing infrastructure, with a new pattern of services, or at least new rolling-stock. The term ‘light train’ is sometimes used, perhaps with more accuracy. Occasionally the use of ‘light rail’ becomes absurd, for instance in a report describing a proposed Transrapid magnetic-levitation line: "... the light-rail connection Amsterdam - Groningen - Hamburg .... will reduce the average travel time from two-and-a-half hours by train to less than one hour by light rail."
(http://www.noordxxi.nl/publications/12_Regional_Analysis_North_Netherlands.htm)

1.4] The Dutch abbreviation HOV, for ‘high-quality public transport’, is often used when new urban-transport proposals are under consideration. In theory it includes rail transport, but in practice it means a busway, or simply express buses on ordinary roads. When the term HOV is used in an official report, it signifies that a possible rail option has been rejected.

1.5] Capital investment in rail infrastructure: The Netherlands displays a striking general shortfall in rail-infrastructure investment relative to existing and potential traffic. Even what is definitively planned in 2003 will mostly not be ready until 2010 or 2020. Indeed, only two major ‘heavy-rail’ projects will have an impact before 2010: the Amsterdam - Rotterdam - Breda (- Antwerpen - Brussel - Paris) Hogesnelheidslijn (= high-speed line or HSL) and the Betuwe freight line. The HSL has two sections, north and south of Rotterdam. In the built-up area of Rotterdam trains use the existing four-track main line, but they all stop at Rotterdam anyway. The Betuwe freight line starts at the southern edge of Rotterdam, runs east along the A15 motorway, passes between Arnhem and Nijmegen, and at Zevenaar joins the main Arnhem - Ruhr line. The connecting upgrade of the line in Germany is still in the planning stage.

1.6] Nationally, some capacity bottlenecks are being removed, but this mainly allows catching-up with 1990s demand rather than creating new capacity for a shift in the modal split from road to rail. It is now Netherlands government policy not to build new rail infrastructure unless it can be proved there is no alternative solution using existing infrastructure. ‘Utilisation’ is the keyword in present policy, and means using every possible technology to stretch capacity on existing lines.

1.7] Furthermore, transport investment is assessed on a project-by-project basis. This approach is inherently incapable of indicating what transport network is desirable or rational, at national level. It includes no provision for assessing cross-border infrastructure, in combination with projects or networks in Germany or Belgium. There is no provision for co-ordination with spatial planning. And since capacity problems are the main assessment criteria, the policy has an inherent bias against new lines - a line that does not exist cannot have capacity problems. Where investment does occur, it tends to ‘thicken’ the existing infrastructure (track-doubling and quadrupling) and to confirm the existing pattern of services (higher frequency instead of new routes). This is the transport-policy context of official ‘light rail’ proposals in the Netherlands. They are intended by politicians and others to give a positive image to minimal investment, and partly because of uncritical media coverage, that strategy is alas often successful.

1.7.1] In September 2003, rail-infrastructure agency Prorail and NS jointly presented plans to restructure the timetable, under the new ‘utilisation’ policy. Earlier it had been assumed that it would take 15 years to introduce the new style of services, but Prorail now think they can start operating between 2007 and 2010 - if works to eliminate the maintenance backlog, plus existing projects to increase capacity, are all complete by then. New signalling and extra passing-loops would also be needed. In the Randstad (the western cities) the new timetable would be structured in ‘corridors’, each with a two-tier level of service. Although the name Intercity would be retained, true Intercity services would disappear, with each corridor having 6 stopping trains and 6 semi-fast trains an hour. In the longer term, around 2020, the whole network would operate on a corridor model. That would mean an end to combining and splitting trains at stations such as Amersfoort. Passengers would have to change trains more often, and travelling on the rail network would be more like using a metro. The Prorail report and a summary brochure are available at http://www.prorail.nl/ProRail/Nieuws/benutten_enbouwen.htm. This quote from Hugo Thomassen, NS commercial product manager, illustrates the ‘no-new-lines’ philosophy: “With a few small changes we can utilise the infrastructure much better. Changing the trains themselves can contribute to that. Wider doors, for instance, shorten boarding time - that’s also a way to improve infrastructure.”

1.8] The transport-ministry website (http://www.verkeerenwaterstaat.nl/mit/statpag/splash.html) lists current transport investment proposals, but only those in ‘Category 0’ are approved projects.

1.9] The bulk of this paper comprises a summary of light-rail projects in the Netherlands in summer 2003, listed broadly from north to south and west to east, following the Ball atlas. The list covers 22 urban regions as defined by the Dutch statistics office CBS. These are not local-government units, but the figures indicate the potential population served by each urban rail network. Together, they cover more than half of the Netherlands population of 16 million. The text describes how each ‘light-rail’ project or proposal deviates from the Manchester / Karlsruhe / Saarbrücken light-rail model, the planning context, and the specific problems in each area.

2.1] Leeuwarden: (Ball 1B3; urban region population 155 000) Leeuwarden is a provincial city in the centre of a wide rural hinterland, approximately the province of Friesland (population 625 000). The historic town-centre is small and close to the main station, aligned west-east. The double-track electrified Leuwarden - Zwolle (- Amsterdam) main line leaves to the west and immediately turns south. Two unelectrified rural lines (Leeuwarden - Harlingen Haven and Leeuwarden - Stavoren) also head west. A third heading north (Leeuwarden - Stiens) is closed, though it once had two branches serving the villages behind the coast. Heading east is the partly-doubled unelectrified Leeuwarden - Groningen line, with two suburban stations in Leeuwarden. All the existing diesel-worked local lines are operated by NoordNed. Local tramways, formerly extensive but now closed, are shown on the regional map of the 1931 network at http://www.antenna.nl/cnt/spoorzoeker/spk1931/ovz.htm. An urban tram is not appropriate for the 65km Leeuwarden - Groningen journey, and street-running in a compact town would not save much time. In this context ‘light rail’ cannot mean more than lighter, faster diesel units.

2.2] Groningen: (Ball 2B3; urban region population 330 000) Groningen station, oriented east-west, is south of the city-centre. The electrified Groningen - Assen - Zwolle main line leaves the station to the east before turning south. After 3km the double-track unelectrified Groningen - Zuidbroek line diverges east and splits again into the single-track Zuidbroek - Nieuweschans [NL] - Leer [DE] cross-border section which joins DB’s Dortmund - Leer - Emden main line. Cross-border services are sparse (three trains a day) and slow. The single-track Zuidbroek - Veendam - Stadskanaal - Musselkanaal (- Emmen) line runs south through the poorest region in the Netherlands. It closed to passengers in the 1950s, but part of it operates as a tourist line. To the west runs the partly-doubled unelectrified Groningen - Leeuwarden line. Some 1km west, the unelectrified Groningen - Sauwerd - Delfzijl / Roodeschool line diverges north. It is being partially doubled out to Sauwerd, but it runs too far from the historic city centre to have a urban function, though it has one suburban halt, and a second is to be built. All the existing diesel-worked local lines are operated by NoordNed. Much of the urban area, to the south and the north-east, is not served by rail.

2.3] The local rail project has the name Kolibri (= humming-bird) and includes a Groningen - Leeuwarden service with a 30-minute frequency in peak hours. A visitor to the official website http://www.kolibri-ov.net who did not know the background might think this was a new line. In fact the line already has a 30-minute service in peak hours. The so-called ‘new network’ means in reality that old diesel railcars would be replaced by new diesel railcars (of Lint or Talent design), and a few new halts would be built. On the line to Assen (population 60 000), a few new electric units would be used. Some 5km of single track from Zuidbroek to Veendam would be reopened. The Kolibri project in 2003 amounts to no more than that. Plans for two new tram lines in Groningen city have been deferred.

2.4] Zwolle: (Ball 2A1; urban region population 170 000) Zwolle is a rail junction for the northern and eastern Netherlands. The (Amsterdam - Almere -) Lelystad - Zwolle Hanzelijn, a 200km/h extension of the Flevolijn, is planned for 2014, but in the present economic climate it may be deferred. In theory, the Hanzelijn could also provide a faster route from Amsterdam to Enschede, but no investment in the single-track unelectrified Zwolle - Wierden (- Almelo) line is under consideration. The single-track unelectrified Zwolle - Kampen local line north-west may acquire an intermediate halt to serve new housing, and new ‘light trains’ - or it may be converted to a busway, according to official proposals. Alternative suggestions (see the LRA website) are to run trams from the centre of Zwolle out on to this line, but this has option has received no official study, let alone finance. See the track plan, plus the photograph of Zwolle station at http://www.geocities.com/railway_nl/zwolle.html.

2.5] Haarlem: (Ball 3B3; urban region population 390 000) A string of historic settlements along the Dutch coast behind the dunes, from north of Alkmaar to south of Den Haag, was cut in 1875 by the Noordzeekanaal through the dunes. This settlement pattern explains the shape of the rail junction at Haarlem. The Amsterdam - Haarlem line approaches the coast at right angles and just west of Haarlem station, it splits in three. The Haarlem - Zandvoort aan Zee line goes west to a beach resort. The Haarlem - Alkmaar line makes a right-angle turn to the north, runs through suburbanised villages, passes in tunnel under the North Sea Canal, and continues through more villages to Alkmaar. The third line, Haarlem - Leiden - Den Haag, making a right-angle turn to the south, was the main line to Rotterdam, Belgium and France until the cut-off beneath Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS) airport was built in the 1980s. See the track plan, plus station photos at http://home.hetnet.nl/~marco.zevenbergen/haarlem.htm.

2.6] In the past some trains ran through from Alkmaar to Leiden direct, not calling at Haarlem, using a flat junction just west of the station, but all trains now reverse at Haarlem, slowing the north-south journey. Partly because of this, but also because it bypasses the old village centres, the railway does not work as a north-south route in the Haarlem region. An interurban tramway once ran along the entire Alkmaar - Den Haag corridor, crossing the North Sea Canal by a ferry at Velsen, and handling the local traffic between the village centres. However, the main passenger flow is through Haarlem station and on to Amsterdam, 15 minutes away. All the rail lines in Haarlem are also Amsterdam commuter lines, which limits their use for purely local services.

2.7] The Zuidtangent - an express-bus route from the southern suburbs of Amsterdam via Schiphol airport - enters Haarlem from the south-east. With a proposed extension north of Haarlem station, it would run along the axis of the Haarlem agglomeration from Schalkwijk to IJmuiden. The extension would not cross the North Sea Canal. It could serve as a north-south line, probably better than its original intended function as a link to Schiphol airport. At present, all plans are for a busway, and some bus lanes. Possibly a short north-south tunnel might be built under Haarlem station. All the busway sections of the Zuidtangent are designed for possible conversion to light rail, which in Haarlem itself would be an urban tram route. However, given the delays in the project, conversion to tramway is more a pious hope than a concrete project. In 2003 no finance was allocated for it in investment programmes, which implies it would not be in operation before 2020.

2.8] Proposals to link the Haarlem - Zandvoort aan Zee line to ‘the Haarlem light rail network’ are therefore premature, though the province of Noord-Holland are to subsidise an experiment with light-rail vehicles on that line as a first step toward a Haarlem light-rail network of some kind. A thesis sets out the history of the light-rail lobby in the region; see Light-Rail en de Zuidtangent in de Spoorzone Haarlem at http://www.bk.tudelft.nl/afstudeerateliers/networkcity/pdf/oostwal.pdf.

2.9] In 2001 Haarlem city financed an initial study by RVDB, the group who run the Light Rail Atlas website. The study suggested a ‘regional tram’ network, incorporating all services on the railways to Alkmaar, Leiden, Amsterdam and Zandvoort except the Intercity trains to Amsterdam. A limited number of new stations would be built. From the main Haarlem station, the trams would run on a city-centre section linked to the Zuidtangent, which would itself be converted to tram operation as far as Schiphol airport. In this proposal, Amsterdam is treated for transport purposes as a suburb of Haarlem, whereas in the real world it is the other way around.

2.10] Leiden: (Ball 3B2; urban region population 330 000) The Rijn-Gouwe Lijn project (official website http://www.rijngouwelijn.nl) is closest to the ideal of a light-rail network. Its first phase uses the single-track electrified Leiden - Alphen an den Rijn - Gouda local line, leaving the main line just south of Leiden station, curving south of the historic city-centre and serving a suburban halt at Lammeschans before running east along the river Oude Rijn to Alphen (population 90 000). It then turns south along the river Gouwe to Gouda (population 135 000). The line is being converted to tram operation. In a later phase, trams approaching Leiden would leave the railway at Lammeschans and run through the old city, on a former tram route, to terminate in the square in front of the station.

2.10.1] The third phase, for completion in perhaps 2010, would see the line continue beneath Leiden station west to the coast (Leiden - Katwijk) with a branch (Leiden - Noordwijk), broadly following two former tram routes. However, the old tramways ran through the often narrow village streets, while the new line is mainly to follow bypass road N206 along the edge of the built-up area, and the stops will not serve the village centres. At Valkenburg the bypass runs between the village and a naval air-base, which is likely to be closed and may be replaced by major housing development, so at this point the line would eventually be inside the built-up area, though this would not put it any closer to existing shops and housing. Existing suburbs north and south of Leiden would not be served, nor would Leiden’s two other suburban stations (on the Leiden - Den Haag line).

2.10.2] Though the trams will not use any main-line track, the hourly Leiden - Alphen - Woerden - Utrecht stopping-train service is bound to be adversely affected. A route 50km long, which runs for 20km on a main line between Woerden and Utrecht, cannot usefully be converted to tram operation. Leiden - Utrecht is not a rural corridor, and serves a million people. The Rijn-Gouwe project sacrifices it to some extent for better services within greater Leiden. Such trade-offs are typical of light-rail proposals.

2.11] Den Haag / Rotterdam: (Ball 3B2; population together about 2 000 000; Den Haag urban region 860 000; Rotterdam urban region 1 100 000) Although it is still planning policy to separate these cities by some open space, they form a single economic region. The two double-track electrified main lines Amsterdam - Haarlem - Leiden and Amsterdam - Schiphol - Leiden join north of Leiden, and the Leiden - Den Haag - Rijswijk - Delft - Schiedam - Rotterdam line has four tracks as far south as the Den Haag suburb of Rijswijk. The section south-east through Delft is the most difficult phase in the quadrupling of the route, with a new four-track tunnel planned along the edge of the historic town-centre. Construction will not start until after 2005, and the project might be deferred until after 2020. See the Delft tunnel website with map at http://www.delft.nl/stadhuis/spoortunnel/. Between the last houses of Delft and the first houses of Rotterdam only 4km of open country remains, through which the main line is double-track. From Schiedam, the line is again four-track.

2.12] Den Haag has a tram network, with a short city-centre tram tunnel under construction. Rotterdam has a tram network and two metro lines. The two cities are linked not only by the main line but by the double-track Den Haag Centraal - Rotterdam Hofplein local line, the Hofpleinlijn, serving some suburbanised villages and ending at the small terminal station of Hofplein, best avoided after dark, about 500m east of Rotterdam Centraal station. Den Haag has a second suburban rail line, which runs in a double loop around the new town of Zoetermeer and then back into Den Haag Centraal station. The line looks like a metro, but the rolling-stock is heavy-rail. On the way to Zoetermeer, trains use the Hofplein line for about half the distance.

2.13] The main project in this region is called Randstadrail, whose first-phase investment is approved and includes a true light-rail component. However, the design also poses inherent operational problems, and illustrates some of the drawbacks of a light-rail network. Its core is the Hofplein line, and if this did not exist, the Randstadrail project would probably not exist either. The two cities would have separate transport systems, with one main-line rail link, between two central stations 25km apart. From Den Haag to Rotterdam is 17 minutes by Intercity, 30 minutes by stopping trains, with 11 trains per hour.

2.13.1] In June 2003 a provincial committee chaired by Dordrecht mayor Ronald Bandell presented the Stedenbaan project to parliament. The name echoes the German Stadtbahn although the word for city is in the plural in the Dutch version. It involves no new lines, but an upgrade of the existing (heavy-rail) stopping services on the lines Leiden - Dordrecht, Gouda - Den Haag and Gouda - Rotterdam. New and lighter rolling stock would operate a 10min-interval service, and would ‘allow’ new stations on existing lines, although it is not clear who would pay for them. This project is said to complement Randstadrail, not to be an alternative to it. However, the proposed pattern of services (a sort of ‘provincial metro’) would be incompatible with the September 2003 Prorail proposals for a 10min-interval service over a wider area (paragraph 1.7.1).

2.14] The Randstadrail project includes relatively little new infrastructure, its aim being to connect together as much as possible of the existing urban networks, using the Hofplein line. The Rotterdam north-south metro line, which now terminates at Centraal station, will be extended north to the edge of Rotterdam, where it will join the Hofplein line. The remaining section in the city, including Hofplein station itself, will be closed. The metro trains will continue north-west, pass through Den Haag Laan van NOI (interchange with Leiden line trains) and terminate at Den Haag Centraal. The Zoetermeer line will be converted to light rail, with low-floor urban tram-type vehicles, and extended by 3km to serve new housing. The trams from Zoetermeer will also pass through Laan van NOI station. Approaching Den Haag Central station, they will diverge to the north, curving round to run over an existing tram viaduct above the platforms, sharing tracks with other city tram routes, continuing through the new tram tunnel to serve two existing south-westerly city tram routes (lines #3 and #6). See http://www.dsv.rotterdam.nl/english/randstadrail.htm.

2.15] Randstadrail therefore has two elements: the Rotterdam metro will be extended to Den Haag Central, and Den Haag will get light-rail lines on a roughly east-west axis. However, between the junction with the Zoetermeer line, and Laan van NOI station, the new trams and the Rotterdam metro trains will share just two tracks. No quadrupling is planned. Instead, the four stations on that section will have a platform with a high section for metro vehicles and a low section for the trams. The shared section is bound to have capacity problems, especially when services are delayed. Indeed, the arrangement virtually guarantees that road-traffic delays on tram lines in Den Haag will be transmitted to the Zoetermeer line, and from there to the Rotterdam metro. The Rotterdam - Den Haag line is also very long for a metro, 45km, although the trains from Den Haag are not to run to its southern terminal at Spijkenisse. The LRA website suggests an alternative of using the Hofplein line to link both tram networks. If this option were adopted, the resulting tram lines would be among the longest in the world.

2.16] From the Den Haag - Leiden main line just north of Laan van NOI station, a heavy-rail branch (Laan van NOI - Scheveningen) once diverged west and followed a long route to the beach resort of Scheveningen, now part of the Den Haag built-up area and served by four city tram routes. The former railway can be traced along roads on the edge of the built-up area, but the section nearest the Leiden-line junction has been built over. Restoration of some form of direct rail link to Scheveningen has often been suggested, but no investment in a new link is under consideration.

2.17] A direct Rotterdam - Zoetermeer link, from the south-to-north line in Rotterdam to the Zoetermeer double-loop, is being studied as a second phase of Randstadrail for completion some time after 2007. The two lines however will have different types of vehicle, requiring double platforms on any common section, so if they are connected for through running, the whole length of both lines might need new platforms. Alternatively, the Rotterdam metro trains might not penetrate far into Zoetermeer, reducing the link’s effectiveness. Most likely, the service will continue to be by the express bus planned for introduction in 2006. The Randstadrail website says the route will be converted to a light rail line ‘in a later phase’.

2.18] Aside from Randstadrail the emphasis in Den Haag is on improving the tram network. The name for this project, which also includes upgrading of the bus services, is Agglonet. It is not a name for a new network or infrastructure as such. Some tram lines have been extended in the last 20 years to serve new suburban housing, the latest to Nootdorp (line #15). Tram line #1 is the last surviving interurban line in the Netherlands, although by now less than a kilometre separates the built-up areas of Den Haag and Delft. Line #1 originally ended at Delft station, but was extended to the southern suburbs of Delft. South-east of Den Haag a tangential tram line #16, from Delft to Leidschendam, is planned for after 2006.

2.19] Rotterdam’s tram network is also being upgraded. The project is called Tramplus and is also separate from Randstadrail. Five lines with a total length of 61km will get new low-floor trams. Improving and separating the tram tracks, and traffic signalling, will increase average speed to about 25km/h. However, they remain urban tram lines. Photographs are on the website http://www.tramplus.nl. Four lines are radial, one is a tangential route, south of the river Nieuwe Maas. Parts of the lines, such as the extensions to IJsselmonde and to new housing at Carnisselande, are new, to open in 2004.

2.20] A Rotterdam Metro extension of the east-westCalandlijn to Nesselande is planned for 2005. The Calandlijn was recently extended west to Schiedam and then south across the river to connect with the north-south Erasmuslijn at Tussenwater. In the east it has three branches: two are ‘quasi-light-rail’ sections with metro trains running at street level on reserved track, with level-crossings. See http://www.metropla.net/eu/rot/rotterdam.htm.

2.21] Diverging from the Rotterdam - Schiedam - Den Haag main line, the double-track (Rotterdam -) Schiedam - Hoek van Holland branch is a suburban commuter line. It passes the quay used by the classic ferry ships from England and ends at the beach. In the past it offered ferry passengers onward boat-train connections to destinations as distant as St.Peterburg in Russia. Only one boat-train survives, a train to Amsterdam connecting with a daytime ferry from Harwich. Connection to the Calandlijn at Schiedam is now being studied, allowing Rotterdam Metro trains to run to Hoek. This would free main-line rail capacity between Rotterdam Centraal and Schiedam, where the flat junction could be removed.

2.22] Dordrecht: (Ball 3B2; urban region population 280 000) The 20km Rotterdam - Dordrecht main line is four-track, with four local trains hourly. About half-way, at Barendrecht, the high-speed HSL to Brussel and Paris will diverge. Just after Dordrecht station, the existing Dordrecht - Breda / Antwerpen main line curves sharply south, while the single-track Dordrecht - Geldermalsen - Tiel - Elst line, electrified as far as Tiel, runs east, connecting to the Utrecht - Eindhoven main line at Geldermalsen and the Arnhem - Nijmegen line at Elst. The new Betuwe freight-only route will run parallel to this line, and take over its freight traffic to and from Rotterdam.

2.23] During the provincial elections of 2003 conversion to light rail of the Rotterdam - Dordrecht and Dordrecht - Geldermalsen local services was proposed, as part of a ‘provincial light-rail system’ including the Hoek van Holland, Hofplein, and Zoetermeer lines. It is not clear if this would include through running via Dordrecht, which would make the routes very long (Hoek van Holland - Geldermalsen is almost 100km). Again, this is designed for political appeal, rather than transport logic. The election manifesto is or was at http://www.groenlinkszuidholland.nl/mensenmilieu5.htm#_Toc30186289.

2.24] The city and province are studying a ring line around Dordrecht and surrounding towns, at first in the form of a HOV line (busway and bus lanes). As is often the case with such projects, it includes the suggestion that it might be converted to light rail ‘in the future’. No capital finance is yet allocated.

2.25] Amsterdam: (Ball 4A3; urban region population 1 400 000) Transport planning in Amsterdam is not particularly coherent. The metropolitan region has no overall planning authority, and powerful lobbies (such as private-sector developers and the operators of Schiphol airport) compete with stubborn NIMBY attitudes (‘Not In My Back Yard’) from residents groups. The Amsterdam Metro designed around 1970 was the only transport project ever planned as a network. The proposed RegioNet is not yet a network, more a collective name for a series of options under study. The only firm RegioNet infrastructure projects are a new curve for direct Zaandam - Schiphol trains, and extra tracks at Wormerveer station. Quadrupling of the lines at Zuid-WTC station is also planned, but that is not a RegioNet project. RegioNet so far implies mainly upgrading of services on NS radial railways with some new stations, in effect the kind of high-frequency ‘heavy-rail’ service that would in Germany be called an S-Bahn.

2.26] However almost every existing and planned line in the region has been proposed for connection to some other line, using a variety of systems. The existing rail lines are radial, with one tangential line south of the city-centre. A station on that line, Zuid-WTC, is designated as the main station for high-speed trains. In 2005 it will be directly linked to the Utrecht line, so that high-speed trains from Germany can also serve it. The complete rebuilding of Zuid-WTC station, underground or elevated, is at the design stage. However, the massive project is dependent on new office development and private investment, and in 2003 that was ‘on hold’ during economic recession. All radial lines except Amsterdam - Almere - Lelystad have Intercity, semi-fast and stopping services. The Flevolijn to Lelystad will also have Intercity trains, if and when it is extended to Zwolle as the projected Hanzelijn. The Amsterdam - Utrecht line is being quadrupled, and will then be ready for 200km/h running, if and when the electrification is converted from 1500V dc to 25kV 50Hz.

2.27] The Amsterdam Metro is one line with three branches, but run as three lines. One of them (line 50) is an incomplete ring line, running from Isolatorweg through the western suburbs to Zuid-WTC, on to van der Madeweg, and from there continues as a radial line. The one light-rail line (Sneltram = fast tram) is being extended from its present terminus at Amstelveen for 3km southward. It is connected to the ring metro and also shares tracks with city trams over half its route in Amstelveen. This shared operation has not been entirely successful, and delays are common. The rest of the tram network is urban rather than ‘light-rail’, though in the suburbs most tram lines are on separate reservations. Tram line 26 to the new suburb of IJburg (to open in 2004) has perhaps more light-rail characteristics. A new north-south metro line 52 from the northern suburbs of Amsterdam to Zuid-WTC main-line station has been designed for a later regional function (in deep tube, with few stations). Construction has begun, but the Noordzuidlijn project is expensive and controversial, and it would not open until 2011.

2.28] Amsterdam’s city tram network is also being extended, but not on the scale visible in Den Haag or Rotterdam. One short extension (line 16) is under construction. An extension of line 4 south to Amstelveen, roughly parallel to the light rail line, is shown on planning maps. So is a tangential line north of the river, in the direction of IJburg, although the route across the river is not indicated.

2.29] A tangential bus route, the Zuidtangent (south tangent), starts at the metro/rail station Bijlmer, crosses the Amstelveen line, runs past Schiphol airport and Hoofddorp rail stations, and then on to Haarlem station. The Schiphol - Haarlem section is largely on a new busway. In Amsterdam, it has bus lanes, but no new infrastructure. The Zuidtangent busway sections are designed for conversion to tram operation, some time, maybe... See the Haarlem section for more on its extensions.

2.30] Other (as yet unofficial) proposals include linking the ring metro in Amsterdam to the Haarlem - Zandvoort line. Between Amsterdam and Haarlem, the vehicles would share tracks with Intercity trains. In Haarlem, they might run on-street through the city-centre. That implies a complex multi-system vehicle, and operational problems. For that reason this option is unlikely, but it shows how ‘light rail’ in the Netherlands means multi-modal operation, rather than new infrastructure.

2.31] The draft 2003 Spatial Structure Plan for the city of Amsterdam for the period until 2030 includes the following projects, though not one of them has yet been allocated finance:

• an west-to-east metro line from Osdorp - on the planning maps since the 1970s, but no closer to construction. In the original metro plan, it turned south-east to Diemen, but its eastern terminus would now be the new suburb of IJburg (planned for 40 000 people).
• extension of the tangential rail line through Zuid-WTC across the IJmeer lake to the new city of Almere. This line would take high-speed trains to Lelystad, over the new Hanzelijn to Zwolle, and on to the north of the country, and perhaps Hamburg. No finance is at present available for the IJburg - Almere link, let alone its extension to Hamburg! Although the link continues to feature in IJburg’s public-relations material, the reservation for a railway and station has been discreetly omitted from the latest plans for IJburg town-centre.
• an extension of the ring metro line, alongside this rail line, to IJburg town centre.
• extension of the north-south metro line to Schiphol airport, alongside the existing rail line. An extension through Badhoevedorp in the Haarlem direction is also indicated on the Structure Plan maps.
• a branch of the north-south line, along the waterfront north of the river, to Zaandam - to facilitate redevelopment of this docklands zone. From Zaandam, such a line might take over the existing stopping services along the Zaan river.
• an extension of the north-south line to Purmerend (population 70 000). The line is long proposed, but would run through a highly protected landscape. It might require an 8km tunnel with no intermediate stops. Purmerend is already served by train through Zaandam, and the usefulness of this line has always been doubtful.
• a west-tangent rail link from the Haarlem line 7km west of Amsterdam Centraal station, by-passing Schiphol airport’s existing terminal area, and joining the existing line near Hoofddorp. The line would serve a new western airport-terminal, if it is ever built. The government has taken no final decision on future national airport strategy.
• a line from Isolatorweg to Centraal station, to close the gap and complete the ring metro line. This implies it would connect to the existing metro line, but no provision for this appears in the current plans for rebuilding Centraal station.

2.32] Outside the Structure Plan area, and therefore not shown on the map, is an extension of the Amsterdam - Amstelveen line south to Uithoorn, following exactly the route of a former rural rail line, closed in 1950. A later suggestion from the planners was to extend the ring metro line, over an existing freight line, from near Duivendrecht station to Muiderpoort station in the older eastern suburbs. This proposal is intended as a cheaper substitute for the east-west metro line.

2.33] The Structure Plan is far from a complete list, but at least it indicates which plans have the support of the region’s largest city. Others are supported by municipalities in the region, but many are simply one-off proposals of the kind that surface especially at election time. Here is one such cluster, from a manifesto for the provincial elections (http://www.leefbaarnoord-holland.nl/html/prog11.html):

• extension of the north-south metro line as tram or light rail to Zaanstad - Purmerend - Alkmaar
• extension of the north-south metro line to Zaandam - Uitgeest - Purmerend and Hoorn
• extension of the metro from Central Station to Sloterdijk, Halfweg, Haarlem, Zandvoort and the Bollenstreek (the flower-growing area north of Leiden)
• extension of the metro Gein branch to Almere, and also Naarden, Bussum, Hilversum and from Huizen to Almere-Hout
• an east-west metro line from Almere across the IJmeer lake to IJburg and from there (a) via Buikslotermeerplein in Amsterdam-Noord to Centraal station and from there via the north-south metro line to Zaandam and (b) south of the city centre via Leidseplein to Osdorp and Schiphol airport.
• a metro line from Almere to Huizen, Blaricum and Hilversum
• a light rail link Hoofddorp - Nieuw Vennep - Lisse
• extension of the ring metro to Zaandam
• a railway from Enkhuizen to Lelystad (over the existing dike)

Some of these suggestions are incompatible, some of the stations are not in fact on the routes named, and they forgot a section between Bussum and Huizen. But the list is designed to appeal to local voters all over the province, not as a rational transport plan. When it came to building something, 3km of busway in Hilversum, the same political party opposed it! It is also a good example of the political and public-relations use of the term ‘light rail’ - which has no relation to any specific type of vehicle or service.

2.34] Hilversum / Almere: (Ball 4A3; urban region population c.200 000) The Gooi region around Hilversum, approximately the triangle Naarden - Huizen - Hilversum, is not defined as an urban region by the statistics bureau CBS. It has however a distinct regional identity, partly because of its wooded landscape, but primarily as the home of the rich. The Amsterdam - Naarden-Bussum - Bussum Zuid - Hilversum (- Amersfoort) main line to the east does not serve the town of Huizen and the villages of Laren and Blaricum. Just east of Hilversum station, the Hilversum - Utrecht line diverges south. The region is characterised by commuting in several directions: to Amsterdam, Utrecht, Almere and into Hilversum itself. The new northeast-to-southeast Gooiboog curve under construction just east of Weesp will allow direct trains between Almere and Hilversum.

2.35] A proposed ring route, the Gooise Ring, would be for express buses at first and light rail ‘later’. From Hilversum it would run north parallel to the railway to Bussum, turning east to Huizen before turning south to follow the A27 motorway back towards Hilversum. The route avoids Laren and Blaricum. They have the highest average incomes in the country, and a tram through the carefully preserved villages is politically unacceptable there. The proposed alignment along the A27 motorway also facilitates the Stichtse Lijn, a proposed light-rail line continuing across the Gooimeer lake north to the new city Almere on the Flevoland polder. This route, proposed almost since construction of Almere began in the 1970s, is very indirect, avoiding existing housing and following motorways as much as possible. Another proposed link, from the Hilversum - Utrecht railway to the Stichtse Lijn, would also follow the motorway. As a result, passengers from Hilversum toward Almere would travel one stop in the Amersfoort direction, and then change at an isolated transfer station in the middle of a wood. The route is dictated by avoidance of any urban alignments through the most expensive housing in the country. Neither the Gooise Ring nor the Stichtse Lijn nor the Utrecht connection is included the 2003 transport investment programme.

2.36] Amersfoort: (Ball 4B3; urban region population 255 000) The Amsterdam - Amersfoort and Utrecht - Amersfoort lines converge, and diverge again as the Amersfoort - Zwolle and Amersfoort - Apeldoorn lines, all being Intercity routes. According to Randstadspoor plans, an S-Bahn-type service from Utrecht is to terminate at Amersfoort, perhaps around 2020. Local councils want that service extended north-east along the Amersfoort - Nijkerk - Putten - Ermelo - Harderwijk (- Zwolle) main line. If that were implemented, stopping trains on the Harderwijk - Zwolle section, serving two villages and a barracks, would probably disappear. The former Amersfoort - Leusden - Veenendaal - Rhenen - Kesteren - Nijmegen line is intact for the short distance to Leusden but disused. Further south, the (Utrecht - De Haar aansluiting -) Veenendaal - Rhenen section has a local service, but the Rhenen - Kesteren bridge was destroyed at the end of World War II. See the track plan at http://home.hetnet.nl/~marco.zevenbergen/kesteren.htm. Reopening of the disused Amersfoort - Leusden section has in the past been suggested, but no provision was made for this during the reconstruction of Amersfoort station. Amersfoort has one existing suburban station, Amersfoort-Schothorst on the Zwolle line, and a second is to be built at Vathorst. No light-rail project has been proposed for Amersfoort itself.

2.37] Local trains run 16km east on the Amersfoort - Apeldoorn main line, turning south on the single-track Barneveld - Lunteren - Ede local line to join the Utrecht - Ede - Arnhem line. Trains run from Utrecht via Amersfoort to the junction, Ede-Wageningen, but the line is primarily an Amersfoort - Arnhem link. The single-track section is a typical rural line, originally from Nijkerk to Ede, but in 1937 it was connected to the Amersfoort line near Barneveld Noord and the northern Nijkerk - Barneveld section was abandoned. Population growth has changed the character of the three villages on the line: Barneveld now has 27 000 inhabitants, Lunteren 12 000 and Ede is a town of 65 000. The Ede-Wageningen agglomeration has about 130 000. The whole Amersfoort - Arnhem route serves about 500 000 people, and a new motorway is being built parallel to the single-track line. Double-tracking has been proposed to meet demand, but also ‘light rail’. In Barneveld and Lunteren the line and stations have retained a classic ‘railway’ character, but pass within 200m of the shops. Central Ede has several level-crossings, and the single platform forms part of a square beside the main shopping street. Moving the line to the shopping streets - the light-rail solution - would save a few minutes for passengers walking to the shops, but would lose many more in extended journey-times. ‘Light rail’ in this context would again mean ‘light train’ - faster and lighter rolling-stock. An extension south from Ede to Wageningen (about 8km) is also being considered by the province. As yet, no definitive plans have been made, and no investment finance has been allocated. Indicative future HOV routes are shown on the Ede Structure Plan for 2030: http://www.edegelderland.nl/Images/Upload/1509_Dromen_groot.jpg.

2.38] Apeldoorn: (Ball 5A3; urban region population 210 000) The built-up area of Apeldoorn is relatively isolated, with forest to the west and south. The electrified Amsterdam - Amersfoort - Apeldoorn - Deventer - Almelo main line converges 15km beyond Apeldoorn (in Deventer) with the Zwolle - Deventer - Arnhem line, then diverges again. Amersfoort - Apeldoorn is the only section of line in the Netherlands with Intercity services only, no intermediate stations and no stopping trains. Local Amersfoort - Arnhem trains share the line for 16km, but do not stop on it. The single-track unelectrified Apeldoorn - Zutphen - Winterswijk line runs 65km south-east. Syntus operate separate Apeldoorn - Zutphen and Zutphen - Winterswijk services. Zutphen, is also on the Zwolle - Zutphen - Dieren - Arnhem line. The line to Winterswijk once continued about 15km to Borken in Germany, now the terminus of Borken - Essen RegionalExpress 14 trains, but no reopening of the cross-border section is planned. ‘Light-rail’ for Apeldoorn amounts to Syntus plans to run Apeldoorn - Zutphen - Winterswijk through trains, probably with lighter diesel units. A single new halt might be added, 3km east of Apeldoorn station. Just east of Apeldoorn station, the single-track unelectrified Apeldoorn - Beekbergen - Eerbeek - Dieren line heads south for 22km to join the Zwolle - Zutphen - Dieren - Arnhem line. It is closed to ordinary passenger services, but has steam-hauled tourist trains in summer. A local political party has suggested an Apeldoorn - Beekbergen ‘light-rail’ link, meaning apparently that Syntus would operate a service over this 6km of track. However, in Apeldoorn the line is inconvenient for the residential areas, running between factories and a canal, and Beekbergen station, which has no shelter from the weather, is not actually at Beekbergen, but at Lieren, 2km away on a minor road. No finance is allocated, and none is likely either. North of the town another local line, Apeldoorn - Epe - Zwolle, closed in 1972 and the 40km alignment is no longer intact.

2.39] Enschede: (Ball 5B3; urban region population 305 000) Enschede is the largest town in the region of Twente (600 000), for which a separate province has often been proposed. The Almelo - Hengelo - Enschede [NL] - Gronau [DE] line is the axis of this 19th-century industrial region on the Dutch-German border. The international route through Twente, (Amsterdam -) Hengelo - Oldenzaal [NL] - Bad Bentheim [DE] route is considered a secondary one, with four Amsterdam - Berlin services a day plus one to Hannover (changing locomotives at Bad Bentheim), no ICE trains and no cross-border local services. Half-hourly diesel railcars operated by Syntus run Zutphen - Hengelo - Oldenzaal and Bad Bentheim - Bielefeld RegionalBahn 61 trains start on the other side of the border. Amsterdam - Almelo - Hengelo - Enschede Intercity services (and electrified double track) end at Enschede. After decades of closure, and years of campaigning, the 9km section across the border (half-way between Enschede and Gronau) reopened as a single track with half-hourly Talent railcars. At Gronau, services diverge as Gronau - Münster RegionalBahn 64 (operator DB) and Gronau - Dortmund RegionalBahn 51 (operator PEG). The border region does not however have a through service. Instead the Münster and Dortmund trains stop at a single-track platform outside Enschede main station, and passengers have three minutes to sprint to the main platforms, where the Intercity to Amsterdam departs. In the opposite direction, the Intercity trains arrive one minute after the Münster and Dortmund trains depart, timed to make their connections in Germany. If the lines were upgraded and/or doubled, trains could arrive earlier and leave later, so making connections at both ends, but the finance provided did not even run to restoration of a physical link at Enschede. A short illustrated history is at http://www.antenna.nl/cnt/spoorzoeker/esgn/esgn1.htm. Some previous studies of the area considered a true light-rail option, with trams on railways and substantial street-running in city-centres, as well as regional trains on existing NS track (but with no integration of German regional services to and beyond Gronau); see the LRA website http://www.xs4all.nl/~rajvdb/lra/n_htm/n_kt.htm. The transport ministry however have already reduced their options to ‘possible light rail’ for Almelo - Hengelo - Enschede. With cross-border services apparently already rejected, this means nothing more than new stock for local services on the electrified main line - and even that only ‘possibly’.

2.40] Utrecht: (Ball 4A3; urban region population 535 000) The small province of Utrecht has a total population of 1 100 000, most of it within 25km of Utrecht Centraal station. It is economically the most successful region, with Gross Domestic Product per head 40% above the European Union average. The oldest line (Amsterdam - Breukelen - Utrecht - Arnhem) was built in 1846-56 to the Prussian Rhineland and it is still the main line to Germany. The other main lines are Utrecht Centraal - Gouda - Den Haag / Rotterdam splitting at Gouda; Utrecht Centraal - ’s-Hertogenbosch - Eindhoven, and Utrecht Centraal - Amersfoort. A second line to Amsterdam (Utrecht - Hilversum - Amsterdam) carries only local services, but is used as a diversionary route. All these lines are double-track and electrified. An often-proposed Utrecht - Breda line, the best-known missing link in the Dutch rail system, would make the pattern of lines symmetrical. As it is, the service pattern is quasi-symmetrical, since Intercity trains from Amersfoort reverse at Utrecht, and then run to Den Haag / Rotterdam. The north end of Utrecht Centraal station has grade-separated junctions, with flat junctions south of the station. An eastern freight bypass is underused, and inconveniently sited for urban services. The former Utrecht Maliebaan station on this line is now the Dutch national railway museum.

2.41] The proposals for Utrecht, called Randstadspoor and originally scheduled for completion in 2011, would be regarded as an S-Bahn in Germany, and amount to an intensive service on existing lines extending about 25km from Utrecht Centraal station. Services would probably run to Woerden, Breukelen, Amersfoort, Maarn and Culemborg - and perhaps further, to Veenendaal and Tiel. Most of these lines would be quadrupled. Quadrupling is already in progress on the Amsterdam - Breukelen - Utrecht main line. Tracks would not be dedicated to Randstadspoor services, but fast and slow services would be segregated. On the Utrecht - Arnhem section, the proposed quadrupling would provide a high-speed line to Germany beside the existing double track carrying all other traffic. However, the high-speed line has been deferred. Only the first phase of Randstadspoor has been approved: quadrupling of the Utrecht - Vleuten - Woerden section; two extra tracks and new junctions south of Utrecht Centraal station; and quadrupling in the new town of Houten, with one new station. Until line capacity has been increased, service is limited to present levels. As an interim measure, a single-track tram line was laid alongside the main line in Houten. Passengers arrive at the site of the future station Castellum, get on a tram, ride for three minutes to Houten station, and take the train from there. Rail use by typical new-town populations is low, and this does not help.

2.42] Similar problems occur around Vleuten, where the newest suburbs of Utrecht are being built, the Leidsche Rijn project. A classic planning blunder was repeated here, the houses being built before other facilities, including the transport infrastructure. The original design provided for three new stations and several new HOV busways, linking the new housing to the centre of Utrecht, plus a new cycle-route with its own bridge across the Amsterdam-Rijn canal. None of these is ready yet, so the new residents use existing local bus services, over the congested bridges across the canal - or more likely, they climb into their cars. The planned first-phase busway consists of two radial routes from Utrecht station, although other routes are indicated on some planning maps. They are in theory capable of conversion to tram lines, but this is so unlikely that no studies were undertaken.

2.43] The old tram network in Utrecht, and an interurban tram to Zeist, were abandoned in the 1930s and 1940s. A completely new light-rail service was built in Utrecht in 1983. At the time the term ‘light rail’ was not used, and it was called a Sneltram (= fast tram). It serves the new town of Nieuwegein, and a branch to IJsselstein was added in 1985 and extended in 2000. The Sneltram line approaches Centraal station by an indirect route, and stops on street near the station. The proposed extensions of this line are the most contentious issue in Utrecht’s local politics. The original plan assumed an extension to the university campus on the eastern edge of Utrecht, running either north or south of the historic centre. Several other Sneltram lines were proposed, especially to Zeist. All attracted local opposition. In the end, bus lanes and a section of busway were built, for an express bus service from the station to the university. Tram conversion here is technically an option, but no concrete plans exist. A recent plan for a tram tunnel under Centraal station, with direct access to the platforms, would have facilitated an eastward extension of the Sneltram, but it has been abandoned.

2.44] Plans for the complete reconstruction of Utrecht station and the surrounding area are in the final phase, pointing to decisions about future rail services that have not yet been made public. See the project website http://www.utrecht.nl/stationsgebied. The terminal platforms built in the 1930s for Amsterdam - Weesp - Hilversum - Utrecht stopping trains are to be retained, indicating that these trains will not form part of the through Randstadspoor service. Direct Almere - Weesp - Utrecht services will also terminate there. The plan allows for a separate platform for high-speed trains, and the Sneltram platforms are to be relocated to the western side of the station. The alignments of possible connections from the Sneltram to the existing busway and to the Vleuten HOV route are however to be built over. The only extension of the Sneltram allowed for in the plans is an extension parallel to the rail line from the city-centre south and then east to the university campus. Although the plan does not say so explicitly, it appears to mark a definitive abandonment of plans for an expanded Sneltram network in Utrecht.

2.45] Arnhem / Nijmegen: (Ball 4B2; population of the economic region 700 000; Arnhem urban region 320 000; Nijmegen urban region 270 000) The city-centres are 20km apart by rail. Nijmegen has a university and more retail and cultural functions, but Arnhem, on the main route to Germany, has better rail and motorway connections. The 1856 double-track electrified Amsterdam - Utrecht - Arnhem (- Emmerich DB) west-to-east main line is joined by the Nijmegen - Arnhem south-to-north line to the west of Arnhem station. There is no west-to-south curve to allow through running from Utrecht to Nijmegen, and indeed such a curve could not be fully utilised unless capacity on the line from Utrecht were expanded. The west side of Arnhem’s 1954 station (track plan at http://home.hetnet.nl/~marco.zevenbergen/arnhem.htm) has sidings and room for expansion, and complete redevelopment is planned. However, just east of Arnhem station the original double-track viaduct has to handle all traffic, including ICE trains and other passenger and freight services up the Rhine valley to Emmerich in Germany, plus Arnhem - Zevenaar - Winterswijk local trains, as well as trains on the Arnhem - Dieren - Zutphen - Deventer - Zwolle route that diverges about 2km east of Arnhem station. Nevertheless, the transport ministry insists that no extra capacity is needed, even if additional light-rail services were added. All junctions are flat junctions, but grade-separation of the east and west junctions at Arnhem has been approved.

2.46] The Arnhem - Nijmegen line has one intermediate station, Elst, junction for the Elst - Tiel - Geldermalsen - Dordrecht line. It crosses the river Waal and enters Nijmegen station, aligned north-south, and situated west of the historic centre. Just south of Nijmegen station, the line splits. One line (Nijmegen - Oss - ’s-Hertogenbosch - Tilburg - Breda) is double-track and electrified. The other (Nijmegen - Heyendaal - Venlo - Roermond) has diesel trains along the river Maas valley. Double-track for the first 10km, it has one suburban station at Heyendaal serving Nijmegen university. Some 6km south on the Nijmegen - Venlo line the disused Nijmegen - Groesbeek (- Kranenburg DB - Kleve - Xanten) line, closed 1991, diverges eastward, through the village of Groesbeek to the German border about 13km from Nijmegen, continuing via Kranenburg to Kleve. Kleve (population 50 000) is a Kreisstadt (= county town) and a former railway junction. In 2003 only one passenger line still serves Kleve, which is the terminus of RegionalExpress 10 (Kleve - Krefeld - Düsseldorf). The former line from Nijmegen continues parallel to the Rhein east to Xanten, present terminus of RegionalBahn 31 (Xanten - Moers - Duisburg), which continues to parallel the Rhein as far as Rheinhausen. The reopening of both the Nijmegen - Kleve and Kleve - Xanten sections has been proposed. See the website http://www.niederrheinbahn.com/. However Kleve town council do not seem to support reopening, for they have recently demolished a bridge over the disused Nijmegen - Kleve line at the north end of Kleve station, relaid at ground-level the road it carried and converted the railway land to a car-park.

2.47] The proposed RegioRail network, also known as RegioRail KAN, would run on the Arnhem - Nijmegen section, and then 10km to 15km outward on the other lines radiating from Arnhem and Nijmegen, five or six branches in all. Possible end points are Wolfheze (or Ede), Dieren and Zevenaar around Arnhem, and Wijchen, Cuijk and Groesbeek around Nijmegen. Services of four or six trains per hour were studied. Insufficient capacity exists for this service pattern on the present lines, so quadrupling of Arnhem - Nijmegen would be a precondition, but no finance is allocated yet. Lines to Cuijk and Groesbeek would need electrification. Otherwise, no new lines would be built, and no integration with any reinstated services to Germany is planned. See the website http://www.regiorail-kan.nl/. In Germany, this would be called an S-Bahn, and considered an urban line, even with a 20km gap between city-centres, and a line length of 40-50km. S-Bahn-type trains, possibly of light construction, seem the most appropriate. However, the transport ministry assessment deals only with the Arnhem - Nijmegen section, where it postulates a frequency of only four trains per hour in 2010 - exactly the same as the current weekday service. The whole project has apparently shrunk to some new rolling-stock, and no more.

2.48] An alternative ‘light-rail’ proposal (see the LRA website) is to use tram-type vehicles which would leave the railway to run through the two city-centres, though the rest of the network would be the same as RegioRail. In Arnhem, the trams would leave the rail line east of the station, run on-street near the historic city-centre, cross the river Neder Rijn, pass through some southern suburbs, and rejoin the Nijmegen line at the new housing development of Schuytgraaf, where a new station has always been planned. Approaching Nijmegen, the trams would leave the rail line, serve new housing at Lent, then cross the river Waal on or beside an existing road bridge. After running close to the historic city-centre, they would rejoin the rail line at Nijmegen’s main station. Note that most services in Arnhem would cease to run through Arnhem main station. Depending on the exact route, they might pass within 5 minutes walk, or 25 minutes. National and regional interchange would be sacrificed for better city-centre access. End-to-end journey times, from an Arnhem branch to a Nijmegen branch, would be long, with about 8km of on-street running. If the trams were to run through pedestrianised shopping streets, that would slow them even more. In effect, the entire length of a typical Amsterdam tram line would be added to a rail journey of around 30 or 40 minutes. The trams would have to match a high-speed train on the rest of the trip, to make up the time lost in street running. This is the inherent conflict, typical of light-rail conversion projects - gains for intra-urban passengers, losses for inter-urban passengers. Only if existing services are very slow and infrequent will a tram on the street beat a train on segregated track.

2.49] Other plans were suggested with great potential impact on the regional structure. The new Betuwe line under construction crosses the Arnhem - Nijmegen line between the two cities. At the point where the lines cross, a station for high-speed trains was planned, and around it a new city-centre, or at least a large office development. Arnhem and Nijmegen would merge into one city, located on the Rotterdam - Germany axis. Two main problems of this scenario arise. First, the Betuwe line is not a high-speed line at all, but a high-capacity freight line. The second problem is more serious. Arnhem and Nijmegen are built on low hills, each overlooking a main channel of the Rhine. The land between them is the former flood plain, with many old river channels, now behind river dikes. The proposed new station, at only 9 metres elevation, would be permanently below river level. Climate change, with increased river flood risk, led to a reassessment of plans to build in such areas. The 2002 floods in central Europe illustrated the risk. Dresden station was built in an old river-bed and, when the waters rose, the river returned to its old course. See the result at http://rcswww.urz.tu-dresden.de/~lepenies/hochwasser/155-5565_IMG.JPG.

2.50] Sharing the electrified main line from Arnhem to Zevenaar, operators Syntus use old and new diesel railcars on Arnhem - Zevenaar - Doetinchem - Winterswijk local trains. The single track beyond Zevenaar has a suburban character out to Doetinchem (30km), with alternate trains continuing on the more rural 33km section to Winterswijk. This is typical ‘light train’ operation on existing lines. The planned Arnhem/Nijmegen RegioRail would terminate at Zevenaar, since the rest of the line is not electrified.

2.51] Emmerich, just 33km from Arnhem and 17km beyond Zevenaar, is the terminus of DB’s Regionalbahn 35 (Emmerich - Oberhausen - Duisburg) and RegionalExpress 5 (Emmerich - Oberhausen - Köln - Koblenz). The electrification changes here from 1500V dc to 15kV 16.7Hz, and all international trains used to stop to change locomotives, roughly hourly. In 2003 only two locomotive-hauled trains remain, for the rest are now dual-current ICE trains, and through local Arnhem - Emmerich - Oberhausen services have effectively ceased. To restore a connection, the cheapest option would be a diesel shuttle Zevenaar - Emmerich service, linking the DB and Syntus local services. However, this stretch of double track is expected to carry the entire freight traffic of the Betuwe line for the next 10 years or so, plus all other Netherlands - Ruhr traffic. Moving the electrification boundary to Zevenaar would allow German local services to terminate there, if the station were rebuilt. Extending the German voltage to Arnhem Central would be possible during station remodelling, but this option was not included at the design stage. Dual-voltage trains for the Regionalbahn and RegionalExpress services would allow them to terminate in Arnhem, but would not in themselves create new line capacity. These services are not urban in character: the RE5 line is 225km long. In any case, no finance is available for any of these options.

2.52] Between Zevenaar and Emmerich a line once ran to Kleve, crossing the Rijn/Rhein by rail ferry. The last local service on the southern section of this line closed in 1960. Only in 1945 was there a bridge over the river, a temporary military structure. Prospects for any Arnhem - Kleve service are extremely remote. For the history of the line, with map, see http://www.antenna.nl/cnt/spoorzoeker/elten/elten.htm.

2.53] One other transit project in Nijmegen, a proposed cable-car across the river Waal, linking new housing to the city-centre, has now been abandoned. No finance was available. The city has built a new busway parallel to the rail line to Nijmegen-Heyendaal, the university station. As with other similar projects, proposal exist to convert it to a tram line, but no finance has been allocated for studies, let alone construction.

2.54] For the political history of the proposed quadrupling in Arnhem, see De Arnhemse Partij van de Arbeid maakt zich zorgen over de toekomst van het spoor in Arnhem at http://www.arnhem.pvda.nl/spoor_bijster.htm.

2.55] Breda / Tilburg / ’s-Hertogenbosch / Eindhoven: (Ball 4A1; provincial population 2 350 000; Breda urban region 300 000; Tilburg urban region 280 000; ’s-Hertogenbosch (=Den Bosch) urban region 180 000; Eindhoven urban region 380 000) Brabantrail is the name given to proposals for a service linking the four cities in the province of Noord-Brabant (the southern half of Brabant is in Belgium). Tilburg is located centrally, but ’s-Hertogenbosch is the provincial capital and Eindhoven is the economic centre of the southern Netherlands. The Brabantrail routes are Breda - Tilburg - ’s-Hertogenbosch and Breda - Tilburg Boxtel - Eindhoven (- Helmond) with a direct ’s-Hertogenbosch - Boxtel - Eindhoven line completing the network. The proposals were based on unrealistic ideas about ‘light rail’ - in this case, that it would allow faster services, stopping at many more stations, without any new infrastructure. Because of the length of the lines (75km Breda Prinsenbeek - Helmond) an urban-tram type of service would be quite inappropriate. Only the section Boxtel- Eindhoven is already four-track, and without further quadrupling, Intercity and semi-fast services would be delayed by any extra local trains. The second phase of studies, financed by the transport ministry, covers several options, including bus services.

2.56] Eindhoven was traditionally dominated by the Philips company, but the economy has diversified as consumer-electronics manufacture shifted to Asia. The city has begun construction of a guided-bus route, with plans for four routes, extending up to 10km from the city centre, the project being called Phileas though officially this has nothing to do with Philips. The bus is electronically guided when on reserved track; it has a hybrid motor, electric drive, and a flywheel energy-storage system, but it is still clearly a bus. See http://www.apts-phileas.com/current_projects.htm.

2.57] Heerlen / Maastricht: (Ball 9B2; urban region population Heerlen 270 000; Maastricht 190 000) The southern half of the province of Limburg is, for historic reasons, a narrow corridor between Germany and Belgium. Cross-border contacts are more intensive here. The double-track electrified main line from the ‘rest of the Netherlands’ runs south parallel to the river Maas, splitting at Sittard into the Sittard - Heerlen (- Aachen DB) line and the Sittard - Maastricht (- Liège SNCB) line. The Maastricht line continues 30km south up the river Maas/Meuse to Liège in Belgium, a rail junction, now on the London / Paris - Aachen - Köln high-speed route. The electrified Maastricht - Valkenburg - Heerlen - Kerkrade line crosses the province from west to east, double-track to Heerlen then single-track to Kerkrade. This is a tourist area, partly because it has the only hills in the Netherlands. See the enlarged map of the Liège - Aachen area rail infrastructure at http://bueker.net/trainspotting/maps.php.

2.58] The province of Limburg are investigating ‘light rail’ on the Maastricht - Heerlen - Kerkrade line. Since the line is already electrified and no new lines are proposed, this again amounts to nothing more than new rolling-stock. North of Maastricht station, the line is four-track for 3km, so Maastricht - Heerlen services could be separated. For 1km approaching Heerlen station, the double track is shared by Intercity trains from Eindhoven via Sittard, but there would be space to separate the services. Heerlen - Kerkrade is a single-track branch, used only by local trains. The whole Maastricht - Heerlen - Kerkrade service could relatively easily be isolated and converted to light rail.

2.59] Light-rail development in the region is however concentrated around the German city of Aachen. An almost continuous urban area stretches from Aachen north-west to Heerlen and Brunssum, following the seams of a former coalfield which extends into Belgium. All the Dutch and Belgian mines are closed, and the whole region has structural adjustment problems. Aachen and Maastricht, both historic cities with universities, are the most economically active areas. The project is called EuregioBahn, and one of its first services crosses the border, running Heerlen - Herzogenrath DB - Aachen. In the later stages, EuregioBahn will include street-running by Talent diesel units in central Aachen, a non-electric light-rail project. See the maps at http://www.gdl-aachen.de/_euregio/netze.html and the official website at http://www.avv.de/avv/euregiobahn/. One option under consideration is simply to extend the Aachen light-rail network west to Maastricht, with the electrified line via Valkenburg then being used only by diesel units.

2.60] The former Amsterdam - Maastricht - Liège - Luxembourg international service has been withdrawn and the Maastricht - Liège local service is at present operated hourly by SNCB, their 3000V dc trains operating at half-power under the Dutch 1500V dc wires for the last few kilometres into Maastricht. No firm plans exist to integrate Maastricht - Liège into the Euregio network, though some suggestions have been made. The four Euregio cities coordinate their planning policies to some extent, through an MHAL committee (for Maastricht, Heerlen, Aachen, and Liège). Since three different national electrification systems are involved, problems would arise with any electric rolling-stock on through services.

2.61] Reactivation has been proposed of the former Maastricht - Lanaken SNCB - Bilzen freight line starting just north of Maastricht station and crossing a bridge across the river Maas, but now serving only an industrial zone north of the historic city-centre. This zone is now being redeveloped, and a light-rail link was proposed in that context. Further on, the line ran alongside the Albert canal in Belgium, and joined the Aachen DB - Montzen SNCB - Hasselt freight route near Bilzen. The canalside line is disused, and the freight line is overloaded. A 2001 thesis gave an economic analysis of this project, estimating the cost at EUR3M/km simply to reactivate a 17km single-track freight line for a diesel ‘light-rail’ service. Double-tracking would cost around EUR100M. See Light rail voor de tUL? Bedrijfseconomisch vooronderzoek naar haalbaarheid van light rail op het traject Maastricht-Diepenbeek at http://www.ssc.unimaas.nl/wetenschapswinkel/pdf_docs/light-rail%20(eindconcept%2017-12-2001).pdf. Integration of this service in a Liège - Maastricht - Hasselt light-rail line would be even more expensive. With a Maastricht - Heerlen service and the Aachen network, it would create a light-rail service for the whole cross-border Euregio. However, that is a region 70km wide, with 3.7 million inhabitants. Given this scale, a single ‘light-rail’ solution for the entire region would seem inappropriate.

2.62] Of considerably less importance than the four MHAL cities, the two towns of Geleen and Sittard fused in 2002 into a single municipality (urban region population 170 000). To integrate their built-up areas the existing north-south main road is to be redeveloped as an urban street, and a by-pass is to be built. A local political party proposed a light rail or tram line along this axis, perhaps extended over a freight branch to Born. See http://members.home.nl/d66sittardgeleen/programma.htm#4. Verkeer en vervoer. Otherwise, Geleen-Sittard is not included in the first phases of light-rail plans for Limburg or the Euregio. Any Maastricht - Heerlen service via Sittard would mean a reversal, and a route twice as long.