Metro Regio Rotterdam - Lijn A and B (Including 'Hoekse Lijn') The 'Rotterdamse Metro' is a metronetwork in and around the Dutch city of Rotterdam, which also has a line going to The Hague. The owner of this network is the 'Rotterdamse Elektrische Tram' (RET). Aound 300.000 passengers travel per day on this route, which makes it the busiest metro network in the Netherlands, and the second busiest in the Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg). The first line was opened in 1968, and the newest one in 2019. The total length of all lines combined is 101 km (63 mi) of which 17,7 km (11,0 mi) is underground. Of course the entire length is not possible in this game, that's why we will be focusing on lijn (line) A and B in this proposal. Short Information: Constucted: 1982 - 2019 (in parts) Max speed: 100 km/h (62 mph) west of Schiedam Centrum, 80 km/h (50 mph) east of Schiedam Centrum Electrification: 750 V DC, partly provided by overhead wires and partly by third rail. Route length: Line A (Vlaardingen West - Binnenhof): 17,2 km (10,7 mi) - 24 stations Line B (Hoek van Holland haven - Nesselande) - 43,1 km (26,8) - 31 stations Since Line A drives over the majority of Line B, I'd say the entire length of this route would be 44 km (27 mi) Trains: 2 different EMU's, in 3 + 3 configuration. They are the Metrotype R 5600 and R 5700 (I will explain more about the trains below) No freight possibilities, only passenger. However, in the future a small part around Vlaardingen Oost will be used for freight, but this will be very, very rarely used. It won't be relevant to the rest of this route. Duration: driving line B will take you 62 minutes from one end to another, Line A will take you just 42 minutes from one end to another. The Route Above: Hoek van Holland Haven Below: Station Beurs, the busiest of the whole RET network. It is in the centre of Rotterdam and every line goes through this station. Metro line A and B are partly one of the oldest, and partly one of the newest. The part East of Schiedam Centrum is a route that was one of the first to be constructed in the 70's. The part west of Schiedam Centrum has a different story. This part of the line is called the 'Hoekse Lijn'. Until late 2017, normal 'NS Sprinter' passenger trains used this route, and directly connected Hoek van Holland (Hook of Holland) with Rotterdam Centraal. So from April 2017 until September 2019, this route was to be converted to a metroline. Also one new station was built: Maassluis Steendijkpolder. It is far more modern than all the other stations on this route. From now on, residents living along the Hoekse Lijn can far more easily travel to the Centre of Rotterdam. The entire route is very scenic. Especially the rural parts: you travel straight through the Dutch Polders. Those are very flat farmlands, as most might know. Hoek van Holland Haven (Hook of Holland Harbour) is a very important station on the route, because this station is located next to the Ferry Terminal 'Hoek van Holland - Harwich (UK)'. Hoek van Holland Strand (Hook of Holland Beach) is the only station that is not yet rebuilt from the original NS station, but once this is rebuilt it will give easier acces to the beach. The Trains Above: A Metrotype R 5600 Above: the cab Below: the interior. Around the doors there is plenty of space for people to stand. The RET owns 160 metros of 5 different types, of which 2 types are in use on Line A and B. Those are the Metrotype R 5600 and 5700. They are very much identical, and to me personally the difference is unclear. Both of them were built by Bombardier. The 5600's where built between 2009 - 2012, and the 5700's between 2015 - 2017. The 5700's where built, so that with the Hoekse Lijn expansion they would still have enough trains. Both trains are equipped with both a pantograph and a connector to the third rail. They travel up to 100 km/h (62 mph) on the Hoekse Lijn, but west of Schiedam Centrum only up to 80 km/h (50 mph). Also they mostly exclusively drive in a 3 + 3 combination, so where 2 trains are coupled together. (To be honest, I've never seen a single train drive on the A and B line, other than the ones at the depot). There are 104 seats in a single train, and up to 166 people can stand in it. It has got 7 doors per side, to let people in and out quickly. Why this route? I think this route would be something like LIRR, but with some rural bits between Vlaardingen and Maassluis which would remind the player of Rapid Transit. All in all I think it would be possible, also given the length. Moreover, employees at DTG could take the Harwich - Hook of Holland ferry to stand directly next to the route, at Hook of Holland Harbour. As far as I know, RET isn't too difficult with licenses. Also an interesting thing to do: at Schiedam centrum, the pantograph has to be lowerd because from then on, the third rail will be used. If you're going westbound, you'll have to do it the other way around. More information: https://www.ret.nl/en.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotterdam_Metro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schiedam–Hoek_van_Holland_railway https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrotype_R (only in Dutch) P.S. to be clear, yes I live in Vlaardingen so this is a close-to-my-heart route
I like this proposal, I like it a lot! This line is rather busy, if this would be built and the full timetable would be represented you would see a train between Capelsebrug and Schiedam Centrum every 3 minutes. The 5600 and 5700 series are almost identical, but there are some under-the-hood differences which are big enough to give the latter their own class number. They can work in multiple together though, and for passengers the differences aren't noticeable.
