ANPEa train at Almere Centrum station.
In association with
Broadcasting Flevoland
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 23:27
An alternative route for the yet-to-be-constructed Lely railway line is being investigated, which does not run through Flevoland, but through North Holland and over the Afsluitdijk.
Two possible routes are already being investigated for the railway line from the Randstad to the northern provinces, both of which run through Flevoland and which should significantly shorten the travel time between the Randstad and the north.
Preference
The project team is investigating on behalf of the national government and the northern provinces what the effects of the three routes are on, for example, accessibility and the economy. This should make it clear which route is preferred and what the financing looks like for that route.
The project team hopes to be able to clarify next spring which route ‘scores’ better than the other. The research results and estimated costs will then be submitted to the State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management.
Since the late 1960s, there has been a desire in the northern provinces to bring the north and the Randstad ‘closer together’ with a new rail connection.
The most concrete attempt to realize this wish dates back to 2004, when the government issued a tender for the line and also reserved a budget. Balkenende II set aside 2.73 billion euros for the project, but in November 2007, Minister of Transport Eurlings canceled the plan.
If the Lelylijn is built, the travel time by train between Groningen and Schiphol Airport can be reduced to 1 hour and 30 minutes. Now such a journey still takes 2 hours and 5 minutes. The railway would run past Drachten, Heerenveen and Emmeloord.
According to Stijn Lechner, director of the project team, the research is necessary to make a good and careful decision.
“We want to compare apples with apples and see whether these other routes provide us with useful information about costs, passenger numbers and speed, for example,” he says. Broadcasting Flevoland. “Then it helps if we look further than just a route that runs through Flevoland.
Lechner understands that people find it strange that a route that runs via Alkmaar is now also being investigated. “We still want to investigate it to see what information this gives us. It is possible that the research will soon show that a route through Flevoland seems the most plausible, but it could also be that this is not the case.”
He does not want to say which route he believes has the best chance. “I don’t think it’s a good plan to say in advance which routes have no or less chance,” he says. “The administrators have said that the route should run via Flevoland. We are checking whether we make the right decision.”
2023-10-16 21:27:15
#Research #route #Lely #railway #line #passes #Afsluitdijk
