The new trains will be four minutes faster between Rotterdam and the North
Translated by Thomas Ansell
As reported in the Omrop Fryslân and the GIC, a new and faster inter-city link between Breda, Groningen and Leeuwarden will be coming in the near future. The route will go via Rotterdam, Amsterdam-Zuid, Lelystad; and Zwolle. After Zwolle, the new, more comfortable and faster trains will continue on to either Groningen or Leeuwarden.
It is hoped that this new route will mean that the speed of trains can improve: to between 160 and 200 kilometres per hour. The faster route will be in use by 2023. In the first portion of the route, between Breda and Schiphol, the new intercity trains will be able to travel at 200 kilometres per hour- their operational capacity.
However, on the ‘Hanzelijn’, the Northern part of the route, the trains can only travel at 160 kph. A journey between Rotterdam and Leeuwarden will, after the improvements, take four minutes less, according to NS. Anyone that takes the line from Breda to Zwolle will find themselves much better off: by half an hour.
“This is a first important step in making the journey between the Randstad and the North shorter, with a new faster train set”, said the president-director of NS, Roger van Boxtel, “we are investing in more fast trains, and hope that this is reason to invest in more high-speed rails in the Netherlands. Think, for example, of the ‘Lelylijn’ [via Flevoland], or a faster line via Zwolle to the North”, he added.
The faster journeys will come thanks to the new ICNG class of train. NS has ordered 99 of these new trains, which will also operate on the line to Groningen. A key improvement for tired travellers, aside from more space and better interior quality is that plug-points and USB charging ports will not be available to those in both first and second class.
Image via NS
