A rail connection between Hoogeveen and Emmen does not seem feasible in the near future. At the beginning of January, the Municipal Executive of Hoogeveen was commissioned by the city council to explore the possibilities for a railway line between the two cities. After discussions with the parties involved, it does not appear to be possible in the near future.
For example, there has been consultation with the province of Drenthe and administrative contacts in the Zwolle region. “On March 21, we also held consultations with the relevant drivers from the north and east of the Netherlands about existing track,” can be read in a letter from the municipality. It became clear that improving the rail connection between Zwolle and Groningen is a priority at the moment.
The government will provide 35 million euros to improve that process, but 40 million is still missing. Hoogeveen hopes to secure this together with the region.
That money is needed to solve the bottleneck at Meppel. This is the only rail connection between the North and the rest of the Netherlands. As soon as there is a malfunction there, congestion often arises and part of the train traffic in the region is flat. The money is also needed to run extra trains on the route, for example with more stops per hour in Hoogeveen.
In addition to the track between the North and Zwolle, the government is also focusing on the arrival of the Lely line and the Lower Saxony line. Agreements on this have been included in the Delta Plan of the North. “It is already a major challenge to get the important improvement of the Zwolle-Groningen rail connection off the ground for Hoogeveen,” writes Hoogeveen.
The exploration shows that many parties are interested in a connection between Hoogeveen and Emmen. However, Hoogeveen does not consider it realistic to implement it in the near future. “However, we will continue to pay attention in the region to further improvement of public transport and the infrastructure for this in the future.”
