Weesp – Lelystad railway line

Weesp - Lelystad Centrum
The route over the A1 near Amsterdam
Route length:	45.4 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	1500 V  =
Top speed:	140 km / h
Route
Legend from Amsterdam and Schiphol 0.000 Weesp from and to Amersfoort Zandhazenbrug ( A 1 ) IJmeer / Gooimeer 7.850 Almere beach 9.140 Almere Poort 11,708 13,067 Almere Muziekwijk 15.139 Almere Center 16,984 Almere Parkwijk 20,066 Almere Buiten 21,896 Almere Oostvaarders 37,500 Lelystad Zuid planned 39.970 Lelystad Center 42.900 to Zwolle 45.400 Lelystad Opstelterrein

The Weesp - Lelystad or Flevolijn railway connects Weesp and Lelystad . Until December 2012 it was the only railway line in the Dutch province of Flevoland . The length of the route is around 45 kilometers.

history

Netherlands Transport Minister Neelie Smit-Kroes at Almere Centrum station on the occasion of the opening of the Flevolijn, May 6, 1987

Flevoland consists of areas through land reclamation the IJsselmeer were wrested. In 1973 the decision was made to build the line, which began in 1981. The first section of the route between Weesp and Almere Buiten was opened on May 29, 1987. However, traffic on the route was not officially started until one day later. The section between Almere Buiten and Lelystad Centrum was opened on May 28, 1988. The stations Almere Parkwijk and Almere Oostvaarders only opened in 1996 and 2004, respectively. Almere Poort station has been served since the 2013 timetable was introduced on December 9, 2012. Lelystad Zuid station is currently in the planning stage.

With the commissioning of the Gooiboog, a direct connection was established from the Flevolijn towards Utrecht , bypassing Weesp. With the construction of the Hanzelijn , the Flevolijn was extended by around five kilometers to the north, where a storage station was created. After the opening of the Hanzelijn there was a continuous connection from the Randstad through Flevoland and via Zwolle to the northern Netherlands.

The original intention was to build this railway line directly through the Oostvaardersplassen nature development area . After protests by the nature conservation movement, the then Minister of Transport decided in 1981 to run the line around the Oostvaardersplassen. Since then, this section of the route has been colloquially known as the bathtub route .

passenger traffic

In the beginning there was a half-hourly stop between Lelystad and Amsterdam Centraal . This was during the rush hour amplified by a half-hourly trains running Stoptrein in the same relation. The latter stopped in the load direction at all stops en route, in the opposite direction only in Almere Centrum . With the opening of the southern Schiphollijn in 1993, the Nederlandse Spoorwegen expanded the range. Every half hour there was a Sneltrein between Amsterdam Centraal and Lelystad with a stop in Almere Centrum and a stop between Lelystad and Den Haag Centraal with stops at all stations. On weekdays there was a half-hourly stop between Amsterdam and Almere Buiten . From May 1995 a Sneltrein Schiphol Airport  - Lelystad, a Sneltrein Enkhuizen  - Amsterdam - Lelystad, and the Stoptrein connections from Lelystad to Amsterdam and The Hague ran every hour . The Sneltrein from then on also stopped in Almere Buiten and Weesp . From May 1998 a half-hourly stop Lelystad - Amsterdam Zuid  - Hoofddorp and Almere Buiten - Amsterdam Centraal. The latter drove on to Enkhuizen for a few years. In addition, there was an hourly service between Lelystad and Amsterdam Centraal. The Sneltreinhalt in Weesp was dropped again. In 2001 the Sneltrein was extended to Schiphol and Hoofddorp and an additional HVZ Sneltrein was inserted between Lelystad and Schiphol via Amsterdam Zuid.

SLT 2640 as a sprinter Zwolle - Amsterdam on the edge of the nature development area Oostvaardersplassen, 2018

The next major change in the timetable went hand in hand with the commissioning of the Almere Oostvaarders train station and the Gooiboog. A Sneltrein Lelystad - Amsterdam Centraal - Hoofddorp and the stop connections Almere Oostvaarders - Utrecht Centraal , Almere Oostvaarders - Amsterdam Centraal and Lelystad - Amsterdam Zuid - Hoofddorp ran every half hour on the route . Two years later the NS upgraded the Stoptrein towards Utrecht to an Intercity . In 2008 the NS unified the stop connections between Almere Oostvaarders - Amsterdam Centraal and Amsterdam Centraal - Uitgeest / Alkmaar to one inflow. In 2009 the NS withdrew the Stoptrein in the direction of Amsterdam Zuid to Almere Oostvaarders and the IC in the direction of Utrecht to Almere Centrum. At the same time, it set up an additional IC between Lelystad and Schiphol, which was extended in 2011 to Den Haag Centraal and Leiden Centraal .

When the Hanzelijn goes into operation on December 9, 2012, the intercity trains will run on the route from The Hague via Schiphol to Zwolle and every hour to Groningen or Leeuwarden and from Utrecht to Almere Oostvaarders. In addition, the route is served by the Stoptrein from Leiden Centraal to Lelystad and from Amsterdam to Zwolle.

Vehicle use

Mat '64 in Almere Parkwijk , 2010

In the first few years, SGM and ICM multiple units were mainly used on the Flevolijn . During the rush hour, the NS also used double-decker trains from the DDZ series . From 1992 the DD-AR series took over a large part of the services. In 2001 the NS withdrew most of the SGM railcars from the Flevolijn and used other ICMs in their place. After the opening of the Gooiboog, they also took over the services to Utrecht. From December 2008 trains of the SGM series were again running on the route. Since 2011 these have been gradually replaced by the SLT series . The IC were driven by DD-IRM from the same time .

After the opening of the Hanzelijn, the IC trains of the new routes were taken over by ICM as planned, while the DD-IRM remained on the other IC connections. The sprinter trains were taken over by SLT as planned. The NS withdrew the DD-AR trains from the line after 20 years.

Web links

Commons : Weesp – Lelystad railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• De Flevolijn In: martijnvanvulpen.nl (Dutch).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Overzicht van de spoorlijn Weesp – Lelystad. In: stationsweb.nl. Retrieved March 6, 2019 (Dutch). 
2. ↑ Weesp (excl) - Lelystad Opstelterrein. In: sporenplan.nl. Retrieved March 6, 2019 (Dutch). 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} De Flevolijn. In: martijnvanvulpen.nl. Retrieved March 6, 2019 (Dutch). 
4. ↑ hold Lelystad Zuid. In: stationsweb.nl. Retrieved March 6, 2019 (Dutch). 
5. ↑ De Hanzelijn. In: martijnvanvulpen.nl. Retrieved March 6, 2019 (Dutch).