On March 25, 2025, Spoorlijn Zwolle - Groningen for TSW 5 was released. Coming as somewhat as a surprise release, Dovetail released their first ever Dutch route in TSW, with the brand new trains of the SNG Sprinter and the ICMm Koplopper, a new ATB system, a new license in NS (Nederlansde Spoorwegen), and the 86 kilometers of track between Zwolle Centraal and Groningen Centraal. Overall, this route was met with high regard: despite the overbearing price tag on the route, many TSW players found the route to be of very higher quality in scenery, station design, and sounds compared to other routes in the far, and the route was receiving with critical appraise for the most part. I found the route to be quite enjoyable too - despite the linearity and boringness of the route, it was well designed, and for being a basis for future Dutch routes, it was very well executed. Flash forward to today, though. Approaching the 10 month mark since this route was released, we haven’t received any word of anything Dutch related at all. No new routes, new trains, no news, nothing. This leaves players asking the question: why? This nation has so much potential. We’ve never seen a country like the Netherlands have such a unique rolling stock, and that’s just scratching the surface. The Netherlands packs some of the busiest rail routes in the Lowlands and all of Europe, and it being such densely packed country, international rail is very much possible, providing so may more opportunities than just sticking back to basic UK or German commuter rail routes (not that I don’t like all of them). I linked a photo of one route I thought would be crucial to add to TSW for the Netherlands at any point in time. I ran out of space for my other examples, and new rolling stock for the game, so make of it what you will! After all, though, this is an open discussion. I’m interested in what you guys think. Do you want more Dutch routes? Do you guys like Spoorlijn: Zwolle - Groningen? What routes or rolling stock would be best for Dutch routes? Please let me know, I’m interested! Route 1: Amsterdam - Eindhoven. If any route should be added to the game, it should be this. This rail corridor has proven to be the Netherlands’ busiest for years now, shuttling commuters between some of the biggest urban areas in the Netherlands. It’s so busy, in fact, up to 12 trains per hour (!!!) can be see between the stretch of Utrecht Centraal to Amsterdam Centraal. With the busyness of intercity services zooming between cities, there’s still a fair share of sprinter services: all stop sprinters run between Eindhoven Centraal to ‘s‑Hertogenbosch, and between Amsterdam Centraal to Utrecht Centraal.
I could say the same about France too. I wish we would get more French content… The Dutch route we do have isn’t too bad. Hopefully they do make more.
If OP wants to make a suggestion place it in the Suggestion forum… As end customers we have no idea how successful or otherwise the first Dutch route was and whether DTG and the team that made it consider a follow up is worthwhile. In the meantime, there are many European and even more world countries that have no representation at all. Perhaps they deserve a chance.
In my view, DTG made a major mistake in their first Dutch route. Instead of choosing the route you suggest, they chose one between 2 regional centers that few had even heard of, with very little in between the termini. Strange, because the routes in the 3 base countries, UK, US and Germany all revolve around major cities that everyone is familiar with, albeit with one or two exceptions. Now, personally, I would prefer routes off the beaten track. Despite the saying, you can get tired of London. But when you're introducing a new country to the game, it would be best to choose one of the juiciest routes first.
This. I love the Netherlands, one of my favourite countries to visit and going back again soon. Big fan of the Dutch railways as well, and been on some great trips. So when I heard NS was coming to TSW I was happy. But the choice of first route left me feeling a bit "meh". It's very linear A-to-B route which I imagined would get boring quickly. As much as I wanted a Dutch route, I didn't buy it for a long time, and only got it recently in a sale. While I like the trains, the route quickly got... yes, you got it... boring. A first route needed to include one (or more) of the following; Den Haag, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Arnhem, Nijmegen, Eindhoven etc. It didn't and I wonder if it affected sales as it has previously been pointed out, hardly two of the most memorable places in the country.
I like this route because It covers a long distance and passes through several cities and Dutch provinces. I do think there are more trains than just the ICMm Koploper and the SNG. So, my first question is: which other trains operate this route?
The OP should’ve made two separate posts then, as his post is a mix of a discussion and a route suggestion. It turns in a route suggestion when the OP says “i want this, i want that, this route should be in the game”.
Dude, I don't want to fix your problem. If it makes you happy, post a discussion here if you think it's worth discussing.
Disagree. This was a new country with two new locos, new local scenery and stations, and a new safety system. Realistically, the route choice would always be a relatively simple one that would look reasonably full, rather than a route with dead terminus stations (which they get criticised for). Realistically, if there is another Dutch route (and I hope there is), it'll be one that links to Zwolle-Groningen and uses its locos in addition to one or two new ones.
Last time I drove the route end to end I passed just one AI train. Not saying the route isn't well modeled, just not very interesting.
Must be something wrong there because a half-hourly Sprinter and a half-hourly IC service between X and Groningen and also the same frequencies on the branch-off at Meppel would mean youd have to meat at least 3 or 4.
The main problem is there is little variety in the service pattern and the trains are not really that interesting. The ICM is virtually silent in the cab and, while confirmed as realistic, requires very little throttle to accelerate though at the same time suffers from a bit of inertial drag when coasting. Personally I would have liked to see one of the older dog nose style EMU’s in the game. And while the route is very well made, the inevitable flat nature of Holland doesn’t stir the juices in quite the same way as lugging your train over a mountain pass.
Hi attuma#5254 Why do you write three replies to answer three quotes? You can easily insert multiple quotes into your reply and answer all three quotes with just one reply. And because certain users have always claimed that you can only include one quote per answer, I just tried it out beforehand. And I was able to insert all three of your answers as quotes in my answer.
I think Zwolle-Groningen was a nice first route to get some experience with building Dutch routes and to see if the community would be interested. I got the feeling that NS was a great partner and provided a lot of opportunities to play around with real trains, get nice recordings and providing the DTG team good information about how these train work. Slamming on the emergency brakes and triggering the ATB must have been fun to do. I also got the idea that the community had a positive experience with the release. I agree the route might seem boring because it’s a lot of straight section but now the first experience is here, a more interesting route could be developed. That leaves a little bit of a mixed feeling. They tested this route, but yet there is no sign of a second route being developed. So there must be something that I’m missing why this is currently not the case. Routes like Amsterdam - The Hague, Amsterdam - Rotterdam - Breda or Utrecht-Eindhoven-Maastricht (to name a few, and lot’s have been suggested) would be great additions in my opinion. So I wonder why it seems like all the effort in developing assets for Dutch routes is not being expanded upon to create more routes. I think time will tell but I would be disappointed if Zwolle-Groningen would be the only one. It would be sad if people think this is the best there is. OldVern would you mind elaborating a little bit more about the silent cab you were talking about? I personally think the ICMm sounds are quite good. If you are not driving from the power wagon, I can understand the silence you would experience. But I feel that if I am driving the power wagon (the head end where the pantographs are) the sounds are pretty decent. But of course, that’s only my opinion!
We need more Dutch routes, for the simple reason that Zwolle-Groningen was chosen not because it's an interesting route, but to build a library of assets and 2 trains used throughout the country, and to gather feedback from the Dutch community (which AFAIK was extremely positive). The whole point of chosing this route was to make a next one which would benefit from everything done in Zwolle-Groningen.
Yes, the first Dutch route from Zwolle to Groningen is good. I also bought that route, and I know there is no second route yet, but I do have a preference for The Hague to Amsterdam. Below is my route suggestion. Route - Spoorlijn Den Haag - Amsterdam | Dovetail Games Forums
Isn’t that the case for ANY nationality. I think France deserves more attention though, as DTG have pretty much abandoned the country since TSW2 and French content seems more popular in the suggestion threads.
Make it so the whole world knows which country France is. The Eiffel Tower is a famous symbol, and think of the baguettes.
