Millions for opening a few gates at Hollands Spoor? Why actually?

What about that project around Hollands Spoor?

The renewal of the area around Hollands Spoor has been discussed for fifteen years. On the Laak side, the municipality sees room for major developments. These also take shape over the years. The Hague University of Applied Sciences, Mondriaan College, the Megastores and a few large office colossuses will be built there. Yet it is not enough, say the policymakers in town hall. The station has only one real entrance, the one on the side of the center. Travelers can walk to the platforms from Laak, but they must then use stairs in the bicycle and pedestrian tunnel, also known as the Interwijk tunnel. Not ideal is the idea, born in a time when you still had to go to a counter to buy a ticket.

That is why there is also thinking about a real entrance on the Laak side. In 2006, the plans for this failed. Eight years later, then alderman Marnix Norder (PvdA) sees new opportunities. ‘The Laakhaven area has been transformed since the mid-1990s. (…) The Laakhaven area will be renewed further in the coming years. A fully-fledged station entrance is in keeping with the positive developments in the area, ‘he says. So he comes up with a proposal to extend the dead-end tunnel to the platforms in the station to the rear. A second real entrance must therefore be created here. On top of that, he sees space for a huge bicycle shed. There will also be a new square with shops on the Laak side.

That sounds like a very expensive project!

That’s right. The tunnel from the hall through the station is a dead end until then. Extending towards Laak turns out to be complicated, partly because of the tunnel must run under existing tracks. Norder estimates the total costs at that time at more than 16 million euros. The idea is that ProRail will pay a little more than four million of this, the municipality will finance 4.3 million and the Dutch Railways will finance the majority with 7.7 million. The project is expected to be ready in 2017.

Ready in 2017? The new entrance was opened in the summer of this year, right?

That’s right again. Because once the tunnel and new entrance should have been completed, it becomes clear that the project is progressing slowly. The Dutch Railways would put it out to tender. It does not work. That is why the municipality is taking over the role as client, the Mayor and Aldermen reported in a letter to the council at the end of January 2017. New agreements are also being made about the financing of the project. The budget is slightly down. The Dutch Railways still pays the lion’s share: 7.2 million. That amount – it becomes clear – comes from the station branch of the railways and is paid ‘from the proceeds from the realization of retail facilities’, the commission reports. The municipality (4.9 million) and ProRail (four million) will pay the rest. It is therefore already clear in the documents that the accesses to the platforms are closed via the Interwijk tunnel.

It is remarkable that there is no discussion in the municipal council itself about these major changes. The piece is on the agenda for the meeting of February 16, 2017. For the gourmets: that is one of the most tumultuous meetings in The Hague in recent history. It is the last under the leadership of Jozias van Aartsen. D66 falls into two camps if there is a vote on the succession of Ingrid van Engelshoven, who exchanges her alderman’s post for the ministry. Moreover, there is an hour-long debate about Legoland – in which the college is about to die. The council has something else on its mind than a couple of the fences for the stairs in a tunnel. Only the PVV ultimately votes against the plan.

Then construction will finally start?

Indeed. Some preparatory work has already been done, but most of the work will then begin. It is also the moment when the city council really starts to smell danger. The then council members Lobke Zandstra (PvdA) and Robert van Asten (D66) are going to ask questions just after the council’s approval. The answers state that if the new tunnel and entrance are opened, the entrances in the bicycle tunnel will have ‘the function of emergency exit’. A year and a half later, in December 2018, PvdA and D66 again want clarification about the accesses. The parties are also clear: they must remain open. But the then responsible alderman Boudewijn Revis (VVD) is brief about this: ‘No’, he writes. That will not happen. He does, however, introduce an argument for why that is not possible for the first time. Times have changed. There must be public transport chip gates. Placing those gates in the bicycle tunnel and the pedestrian tunnel to the new entrance is too expensive, he says. It would lead to ‘disproportionate costs’. There will be fences for the stairs.

The parties do not accept that?

On the contrary. The resistance is only increasing. Also local residents, the cycling association and travelers’ organization Rover are now getting involved. They are also all against. ‘For everyone coming from the west this means: see the train, but make a detour first’, they summarize their objections. There will now also follow debates in committees and in the city council on the issue. The council even takes a motion stating that the entrances must remain open. But Revis makes it clear in his last council meeting as councilor that he will disregard this.

How do ProRail and NS think about the matter in the meantime?

In June of this year, a spokesperson on behalf of both organizations said that he ‘understands’ the fact that not everyone is happy with the entrances in the bicycle tunnel being closed. But, he also says: if that had not happened, the whole project would simply not have gone ahead because it would have become too expensive. ‘Access to the platforms from the bicycle tunnel would significantly increase the ongoing costs for maintenance, supervision and daily use, as the platforms could then be reached from four sides. This requires people, gates and cameras. Well-flourishing shops are also important for everyone to keep access to the stations liveable and pleasant. ‘

In a letter of August 2020 to the municipality, ProRail and NS also jointly provide a series of new arguments for closing the entrances: better passenger flows, a logical layout of the station, social safety.

What about that money now?

There have been doubts in the city council and elsewhere for some time about whether those public transport gates are the only reason why the gates have to be closed. Good sources in the world of public transport report that this is not the case. The Dutch Railways wants to recoup some of the money it has put into the project. And that is where the ‘retail facilities’ mentioned in the 2017 documents come into play. The railways rent out the shops at the new entrance. They may charge a higher price for this if many customers also come by. Keeping both entrances to the platforms open is not conducive to this.

Although the latter has long been a kind of public secret, the now responsible alderman Anne Mulder admits it in public for the first time this week. In the debate Tuesday he acknowledges that money has to be made at Hollands Spoor. In addition – his spokesperson confirms on Thursday – Mulder is ‘mistakenly’ switching ProRail and the Dutch Railways, yet the message is clear. ‘Entrepreneurs are attracted. They also pay and want to count on receiving customers. So that’s how ProRail (the NS, ed.) Calculates that business case. You can think of that. But the danger is that if you do not accept that, you will not have a station or another station, ‘said the alderman.

When council member Janneke Holman of the PvdA continues to ask questions, he makes it even clearer: ‘ProRail (the Dutch Railways, ed.) Is making a business case. They conclude contracts with entrepreneurs. Those entrepreneurs want a turnover. They get it from customers. And then they want those customers to walk past the shops. And that can save a minute for some travelers. ‘

How much money could it be?

It is only possible to reopen the gates that have since been closed, warn NS and ProRail in their letter of August, if the entire contract that the parties concluded seven years ago will be broken open. ‘Including the finances involved’. So that means talking about their contribution to the project. As the documents from 2017 show, this therefore concerns 7.2 million from NS and four million from ProRail. The money that ProRail put into the project comes from a fund for bicycle facilities. That organization does not have to return that, says a spokesman. At least the 7.2 million of the NS will remain. It is not clear whether the railways want all of this back. Mulder had asked, at the opening of new tunnel. “Millions, was the answer, without any specification,” said the councilor. “So you lost a few million.”

A spokesman for the Dutch Railways says today that he cannot say exactly how much money it is. The NS is willing to calculate this for the municipality. “We are open to that.” It is clear that it is a substantial amount, said the spokesman. Because installing OV chip gates and all the facilities that go with it is very expensive. In addition, the stores must therefore be compensated.

Is the case finally closed with this?

The city council is not giving up completely yet. A majority want the alderman to ask NS and ProRail to map out passenger flows. He will do that. “But I can’t control that.” He will also check whether NS is willing to make clear what exactly it will cost to unlock the gates. So perhaps some day information will come to the council and the discussion will start again. This does not alter the fact that the new alderman is clear. ‘You can’t have everything, always. Sometimes you want the perfect, but it comes with price tags. I’d be happy with what’s out there. Because it has become a fantastically beautiful station. ‘

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