The rail link between Leeuwarden and Groningen should have double the tracks between Hurdegaryp and Feanwâlden, and also between Hoogkerk and Groningen, says the Province
Translated by Thomas Ansell
The Province of Friesland are lobbying the government to provide financing to achieve this. The Province has also made its Uitvoeringsprogramme Verkeer en Vervoer 2020 known, and a central part of the transport plan is the broadening of the train connection between the two cities.
As reported in the Friesch Dagblad, aside from doubling the tracks and speeding up the express train services, a following step in the project to improve the rails between Groningen and Leeuwarden would be to add another express service to the timetable- starting in 2021.
In order to make this possible, in the coming months work will take place to add another rail line between Zuidhorn and Hoogkerk. Unfortunately, it was not possible to include adding another line to other sections of the rail in the costings of that project: and so the Province of Friesland will begin lobbying for money to help with the second secton.
Adding two sets of rails in the sections between Hurdegarup and Feanwâlden, and also between Hoogkerk and Groningen might mean that users of the express service arrive in Leeuwarden or Groningen five minutes early. At the moment, the travel time is 34 minutes, whilst after the improvements that could drop to 29 minutes.
By adding the extra rails, it would mean that express trains could continue past stopping trains or those coming in the opposite direction. The Province has given no indications of when the new rails could be complete- it is also not yet clear how much money the Province must ask for.
