The Lelystad–Zwolle railway, also known as the Hanzelijn ( en,

Hanseatic The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=German language, Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Norther ...

Line), is a Dutch

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line, finished in 2012. It connects Lelystad, capital of the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of Flevoland, with

Zwolle Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is on ...

, capital of the neighbouring province of Overijssel, and provides a direct rail link between Flevoland and the north-east of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Construction

The Hanzelijn project was essentially a less costly alternative to the Zuiderzeelijn (Zuiderzee Line), a proposed new Lelystad-Groningen line via

Emmeloord Emmeloord is the administrative centre of the municipality of Noordoostpolder, Flevoland, Netherlands. In 2019, it had a population of 26,055. Overview At the heart of the Noordoostpolder, where the three main drainage canals Lemstervaart, ...

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, fry, It Hearrenfean ) is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the municipality had a population 50,859 (1 July). ...

and Drachten for which planning was cancelled in 2007. Work started in January 2007 and was completed in December 2012. Two new stations have been built:

Dronten Dronten () is a municipality and a town in the central Netherlands, in the province of Flevoland. It had a population of in . History Plans for the municipality of Dronten were made in the early half of the 1950s; real plans for the town of Dr ...

and Kampen Zuid. The maximum speed on most of the line is . , no Dutch domestic rolling stock is capable of achieving this speed, as all existing rolling stock was limited to . Also trains using the railway do not run faster than Since the trains currently running on the line only use train protection system ATB-EG, speed is limited to in practice. Operator NS is planning to operate their new ICNG trains on the route, which are capable of achieving the higher speeds. Delays in manufacturing have caused their introduction to be no earlier than the second half of 2023, however. On 6 December 2012 the railway was opened by

Queen Beatrix Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husban ...

, using the Dutch Royal Train to traverse the new track. Scheduled services began operating on Sunday, 9 December 2012. The journey from Lelystad to Zwolle takes 25 minutes, reducing journey times from Amsterdam to Zwolle – and further north – by about 15 minutes. The total length of the new track is 50 km.

Infrastructure

The line includes a tunnel under the Drontermeer (the semi-artificial channel separating the mainland from the

reclaimed Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamati ...

Eastern Flevoland), and joins the existing

Utrecht–Kampen railway The Utrecht–Kampen railway (also known as ''Centraalspoorweg'') is an important railway line in the Netherlands running from Utrecht to Kampen, passing through Bilthoven, Amersfoort, Nijkerk, Ermelo, Harderwijk, Nunspeet, Wezep and Zwolle. The ...

just before the high-level fixed bridge over the river

IJssel The IJssel (; nds-nl, Iessel(t) ) is a Dutch distributary of the river Rhine that flows northward and ultimately discharges into the IJsselmeer (before the 1932 completion of the Afsluitdijk known as the Zuiderzee), a North Sea natural harbour. ...

. This new bridge, known as the Hanzeboog, includes a separate pedestrian and cycle track in addition to the double-tracked railway. It opened on 14 June 2011, replacing a rail-only twin-span vertical-lift drawbridge that had been in place since just after the Second World War. Tunnel Drontermeer 1

Journey times

The Hanzelijn has shortened journey times between Zwolle and Amsterdam by at least 10 minutes, and up to 20 minutes for some journeys.

Interliner Interliner is an express bus system in the Netherlands. In this country the backbone of medium and long distance public transport is the railroad system. Long distance buses are used complementarily. While most bus lines have many stops or only ...

express bus route 330, which connected Lelystad and Zwolle, was discontinued upon opening of the Hanzelijn.

References

External links

Hanzelijn
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lelystad-Zwolle railway Buildings and structures in Flevoland Buildings and structures in Overijssel Railway lines in the Netherlands Railway tunnels in the Netherlands

Construction

Infrastructure

Journey times

See also

References

External links