Back in 1837, a couple of Dutch businessmen had a dream: they wanted to build the first railway line in the Netherlands. They joined forces to become the 'Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maaschappij' (Dutch Iron Railway) and started making their dream into a reality. Two years later, the Amsterdam - Haarlem railway line opened. Over the years, the line quickly expanded and started reaching other cities. The extension to Leiden was completed in 1842, The Hague was reached a year later and by 1847 the iron road had been built all the way to Rotterdam. Hereby, the HIJSM's line connected some of the most important cities in the Netherlands. Today, 180 years after the first fare paying passengers set foot on a HIJSM train, their railway line is still one of the backbones of the Dutch railway network. It is also home to a number of impressive contemporary stations and iconic locations of the network. The route The main artery of the route is the Amsterdam - Haarlem - Leiden - Den Haag corridor. This route measures 64 km (39.7mi) in length and serves the following stations (bolded stations are IC stations): Amsterdam Centraal Amsterdam Sloterdijk Halfweg-Zwanenburg Haarlem Spaarnwoude Haarlem Heemstede-Aerdenhout Hillegom Voorhout Leiden Centraal De Vink Voorschoten Den Haag Mariahoeve Den Haag Laan van NOI Den Haag Centraal In addition to this corridor, I propose to add the Haarlem - Zandvoort line (8km, 5mi). This railway line connects the city of Amsterdam to its beach and has an interesting service pattern during summer. The stations served by this line are: Haarlem Overveen Zandvoort aan Zee Finally, I propose to add Den Haag HS station as this enables a more intensive and interesting service mode timetable to be created (more on that below). There is a bit of history to Den Haag HS: when the railways were built, this was done by private companies. The city of The Hague did not get a single main station, but got two main stations as two companies built a railway into The Hague and did not want to share. Even after merging into Nederlandse Spoorwegen, a single 'Hauptbahnhof' was never constructed. In total, the proposed routes would add up to approximately 75 route kilometers (46 route miles), this excludes tracks in depots, yards and towards portals. It contains 17 passenger stations. Stations A few pictures of iconic stations along the route: Amsterdam Centraal station Haarlem station Leiden Centraal station Den Haag Centraal station Den Haag HS station Zandvoort aan Zee station The views One of the things for which the Netherlands is known, is flowers. One of the worlds most well-known flower fields, the Keukenhof, is situated right along the line in Lisse. In spring, this area is a very popular place for railway photographers as it gives for scenes like this: 2019.04.16_12461_Hillegom_VIRM 8651+9554 by rcbrug, on Flickr Apart from that, the route offers a great variance in views. From the historic city centre of Amsterdam with its many canals and small tall houses, to its bustling business area at Sloterdijk, transforming into the wide open fields and back again, the route offers it all. Take a look at this cabride video to see how much the route varies: Service patterns Nederlandse Spoorwegen, the exclusive operator of trains along this route, operate a high frequency service. The service pattern is as follows: Fast trains These trains only call at the stations marked in bold on the station list above. IC 700/1800: Leiden Centraal - Den Haag Centraal. Runs every 30 minutes, continues to Schiphol Airport/Zwolle/... in real life. Alternates between Groningen and Leeuwarden. Does not call at Den Haag Laan van NOI. IC 2100: Amsterdam - Haarlem - Leiden - Den Haag Centraal. Runs every 30 minutes. IC 2200: Amsterdam - Haarlem - Leiden - Den Haag HS. Runs every 30 minutes, continues to Rotterdam/Roosendaal/Vlissingen in real life. IC 2400: Leiden - Den Haag HS. Runs every 30 minutes, continues to Rotterdam/Dordrecht in real life. All station services: These trains call at all intermediate stations. Sprinter 4600: Leiden Centraal - Den Haag Centraal. Runs every 30 minutes. Continues to Schiphol Airport in real life (not part of this proposal) Sprinter 6300: Haarlem - Den Haag Centraal. Runs every 30 minutes until 20:00, after that only Haarlem - Leiden Centraal is served. Sprinter 5400: Amsterdam Centraal - Zandvoort aan Zee. Runs every 30 minutes. Sprinter 15400: Haarlem - Zandvoort aan Zee. This service is only operated during the summer and on warm weather days, only 9:30 - 19:30. As you can see, the service pattern on the route is quite intensive. Between Leiden and Den Haag, the infrastructure is four-tracked and IC trains are scheduled to arrive and depart simultaneously. This leads to an interesting experience of 'racing' the train next to yours - quite a number of videos of this can be found on YouTube. Freight Unfortunately, there is not much freight on this route as Den Haag - Haarlem is not a major freight route in the Netherlands. There is a weekly steel train from Kijfhoek yard (near Rotterdam) to Beverwijk (above Haarlem). Waste disposal trains used to run along the route, but these services seized to exist in 2017 when the freight operating company responsible for these trains went bust. Rolling stock Despite the intense service pattern listed above, the rolling stock used is pretty homogenous. The intercity fleet The majority of the IC trains in the Netherlands are operated by the VIRM double deck EMUs. All of the services listed above are, or have been, operated by the VIRM train sets. VIRM EMUs come in 4 and 6 car variants, and can work in multiple (4+4, 4+6, 4+4+4, 6+6). These trains were originally introduced in various batches in the 1990s, the oldest ones are currently receiving their mid-life refurbishment. Overhauled VIRM double decker EMU at Lisse VIRM composite coach (first class in front, second class behind the glass partition) The sprinter fleet Under the current timetable, the various sprinter services listed above are operated by several fleets of 'sprinters' ranging from the oldest SGM trains (built in the 1970s) up to the newest member of the family, the SNG. Over the next two years, all SGM trains will be retired and all of the services listed above are planned to be operated by one type only: the SNG. SNG stands for 'Sprinter Next Generation', the type designation given by NS to their order of Civity EMUs built by Spanish manufacturer, CAF. NS have ordered two variants: 3 car and 4 car versions. In total, NS have ordered more than 200 of these trains. Two SNG sprinters at Haarlem SNG train interior (2nd class) Infrastructure The railways in the Netherlands operate on standard 1435mm track gauge, nearly all of it is electrified. The overhead lines on this route are electrified using 1800 volts DC. The railways in the Netherlands use 3 aspect lineside signals, the signalling principles are based on speed signalling (as used in Germany). Train protection is provided by the in-cab based ATB Eerste Generatie train protection system, which oversees the maximum authorised speed in a rudimentary form (it's old technology, after all). ATB-Vv ("Verbeterde Versie") has been introduced at key locations to provide train-stop functionality, it is comparable to TPWS. Yards and depots Around Amsterdam, Haarlem and The Hague a couple of depots are provided. While trains generally work from one service to the next during daytime, at the end of service the trains are moved into various yards for overnight cleaning and servicing. All pictures used in this post come from Wikipedia
Oh yes I hope TSW will do a Dutch route as well! I'm getting tired of the US/UK/Germany stuff.... This route would be great and the flower fields will give great views! Also the 75 km is possible given that it is almost the same as Rapid Transit or Peninsula Corridor. Train wise there is a lot to add, maybe they could even make loco DLC's for it... And I think the NS (Dutch Railways) won't be that difficult to get a license from... +1, I'd like to see this in TSW!
Another great thing about the Netherlands... it's quite close to them! Quite convenient for field research work... hop on a Eurostar train to Amsterdam, or a Stena Line boat, and you're there.
I would love this route combined with Mat ‘64 trains, perhaps set in the eighties, if that is historically accurate?
Fantastic proposal! Nice bit of past and present history in there too. Having spent a lot of time over there (I've family and friends in Haarlem and Rotterdam) I think it's a great idea! When I was last over there they still were using the old historic stock for the Centraal to Zandvoort services at the weekends. Is this still the case? Would be nice to see those too!
The old sprinters (SGMm) are still in use on the Amsterdam - Zandvoort route currently, but are on their way out.
