Schiedam – Hoek van Holland railway line

Schiedam – Hook of Holland
Farewell trip on March 26, 2017
Route length:	24 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	750 V  =
Legend from Rotterdam Centraal Metro lines A, B, C from Rotterdam Beurs 0 Schiedam Center Schiedamse Schie to The Hague Metro line C to Spijkenisse Route from here currently out of order due to renovation 2 Schiedam Nieuwland Rijksweg 4 4th Vlaardingen Oost Harbor Bridge (Vlaardingen) 6th Vlaardingen Center 8th Vlaardingen West 12 Maassluis Harbor Bridge (Maassluis) 14th Maassluis West terminus of line A Maassluis Steendijkpolder (under construction) 16 Poortershaven 18th Nieuwlandsche Polder 21st De Haak 23 Hook of Holland Haven 24 Hoek van Holland Strand terminus line B Hoek van Holland Strand (under construction)

The Schiedam – Hoek van Holland (also Hoekse Lijn ) railway line is a former railway line and future underground line of the Rotterdam Metro between Schiedam and Hoek van Holland along the Nieuwe Maas . The railway line is also an important freight route in the west of the Netherlands . The length of the route is around 24 kilometers.

history

On August 17, 1891, the first section between Schiedam and Maassluis was opened as a railway line. The section between Maassluis and Hook of Holland was inaugurated on June 1, 1893. In 1935 the entire line was electrified .

The Stena Line makes it possible to take the ferry to Harwich in England from the Hoek van Holland Haven station. In earlier times, international passenger trains also ran on the route, for example from Moscow or Berlin , as travelers could easily change to the ferry to England in Hoek van Holland. Since the opening of the Eurotunnel, however , the importance of the route has decreased significantly.

On March 31, 2017, the last passenger trains of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen ran on the route, since then there has been temporary rail replacement traffic until the route is to be reopened as part of the Rotterdam Metro around 2019. The power system will be converted to 750 V direct current and the stations will be adapted to the design of the Rotterdam Metro. In addition, the new Steendijkpolder station is being built in Maassluis ; plans for further intermediate stations in Schiedam and Hoek van Holland have not yet materialized. The Hoek van Holland Strand station will also be moved closer to the beach.

The opening of the new route was originally planned for September 2017; Due to unforeseen events, the date was initially postponed to February 2018. These included, among other things, a higher load on the soil, u. a. with asbestos than planned and the presence of unused or even used cables that were not discovered during the preliminary investigation and that had to be removed or relocated. Software problems later arose with the train protection system, so that the reopening had to be postponed again and the renovation work was expected to be completed in January 2019. After it became known that this date could not be kept due to the ongoing software problems, an opening before May 2019 is no longer expected. On November 1, 2019, the new route to Hoek van Holland Haven was finally opened and is now used by lines A (only to Vlaardingen West) and B.

Train traffic

Until 2017, sprinters ran every quarter of an hour from Rotterdam Centraal station to Maassluis West and every half hour to Hoek van Holland Haven. During rush hour, the trains ending in Maassluis West were extended to Hoek van Holland Haven, and the Rotterdam C. – Vlaardingen Centrum section was reduced to a 7.5-minute cycle. Hoek van Holland Strand was only driven every hour, previously only in the summer months.

Since April 2017, four SEV lines (711, 712, 713, 714) have been operating in addition to two city lines (56 and 156) during the reconstruction of the route . Line 711 is an express line that does not stop between Schiedam Centrum and Hoek von Holland Strand.

Once the work has been completed, the subway line B from Nesselande will be extended every 10 minutes from Schiedam to Hoek van Holland Haven, with half of the trains ending in Maassluis West (later in Maassluis Steendijkpolder). In addition, the underground line A from Binnenhof to Vlaardingen West is to be connected during rush hour. Freight trains will also use the route several times a day, which will be transferred to the national rail network in Schiedam.

gallery

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  Express train to Berlin with through cars in Hoek van Holland Haven, 1991

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  Headboard of the Hoek van Holland Haven station, 1991

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  Headboard of the Hoek van Holland Haven station, 2017

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  Hoek van Holland Haven, in the foreground the tracks to / from Hoek van Holland Strand

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  Terminus of Hoek van Holland Strand

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  Two bridges along the Hoekse Lijn have no overhead lines, here the swing bridge in Maassluis with a "Hondekop"

Web links

• Stena Line
• Information about the Hoekse Lijn from the Rotterdam Transport Authority
• Information about the "Hoekse Lijn" construction project

proof

1. ↑ ^{a b} Voltooiing Hoekse Lijn is vertraagd tot February 2018. Metropoolregio Rotterdam Den Haag, July 15, 2017, accessed on September 15, 2018 (Dutch). 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Rijden op de Hoekse Lijn opnieuw uitgesteld. (No longer available online.) Metropoolregio Rotterdam The Hague, September 14, 2018, formerly in the original ; Retrieved September 15, 2018 (Dutch).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
3. ↑ Yvonne Keunen: Hoekse Lijn rijdt op zijn vroegst eind januari. Algemeen Dagblad , September 14, 2018, accessed September 15, 2018 (Dutch). 
4. ↑ Aanleg metro Hoekse Lijn opnieuw contract. Retrieved March 16, 2019 (Dutch). 
5. ↑ Home. Retrieved November 13, 2019 . 
6. ↑ Vervangend busvervoer Hoekse Lijn , Rotterdamse Electric Tram , 2018