RandstadRail () is a light rail network in the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area in the west of the Netherlands that is jointly operated by

HTM Personenvervoer HTM Personenvervoer NV (HTM, from the former name Haagsche Tramweg Maatschappij) is a public transport company in the Netherlands operating trams, lightrail and buses in The Hague, Rijswijk, Leidschendam, Voorburg, Delft, Zoetermeer, Wateringen ...

(HTM) and Rotterdamse Elektrische Tram (RET). It connects the cities of Rotterdam, The Hague and Zoetermeer, primarily using former train and existing tram tracks. Named after the Randstad conurbation, the light rail network came into operation in 2006, after regular train services on the Hofpleinlijn and

Zoetermeer Stadslijn Zoetermeer Stadslijn is a light-rail line converted from a former commuter rail line in the Netherlands, between The Hague and Zoetermeer. History Originally, the line was managed by the Dutch Railways (NS). Since June 2006, it has served as a l ...

had been discontinued. The system consists of four routes and serves 73 stations, with a total length of approximately . In 2018, it had a daily ridership of around 125,000 passengers.

Light rail network

The RandstadRail network consists of four routes: one

metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

line (E) between The Hague and Rotterdam, and three tram-train lines (3, 4 and 34) between The Hague and Zoetermeer. Line E is operated by RET and uses high-floor Flexity Swift vehicles, while lines 3, 4 and 34 are operated by HTM and use low-floor

RegioCitadis The Alstom Citadis is a family of low-floor trams and light rail vehicles built by Alstom. , over 2,300 Citadis trams have been sold and 1,800 tramways are in revenue service throughout the world, with operations in all six inhabited continent ...

vehicles. Stations that are served by both types of carriages have extended platforms with a higher and a lower part.

Line E

Line E (formerly ) is a

line, which also belongs to the Rotterdam Metro network. For a great part, it runs on the former Hofpleinlijn railway line between Den Haag Centraal railway station and Rotterdam Hofplein railway station. After the train services had been discontinued, the track was re-opened as a RandstadRail line in September 2006, running between Nootdorp and Hofplein. In November 2006, the line was extended to The Hague. As part of the line's conversion to RandstadRail operation, it began using RET metro trains, and more stops were added and train frequencies increased. Although the conversion had not been flawless, with a series of technical problems and a derailment, the line has been in full operation since September 2007. In 2010, Hofplein terminus was replaced with the , a

bored tunnel A tunnel boring machine (TBM), also known as a "mole", is a machine used to excavate tunnels with a circular cross section through a variety of soil and rock strata. They may also be used for microtunneling. They can be designed to bore thro ...

connecting the line with the local metro network at Rotterdam Centraal railway station. In December 2011, the line was further extended to

Slinge metro station Slinge is an above-ground subway station in the south of the city of Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, ...

in the south of Rotterdam, sharing the section between Rotterdam Centraal and Slinge with the already existing line D.

Lines 3, 4 and 34

The RandstadRail network originally included two tram-train lines: line 3 between Loosduinen and Zoetermeer Centrum-West, and line 4 between

De Uithof Utrecht Science Park (also known as De Uithof) is a science park and neighbourhood in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is located to the east of the city. It is the largest campus of Utrecht University. Apart from the faculties of Law, Humanities and Univer ...

and Lansingerland-Zoetermeer. On 23 July 2020, a third tram-train line was added to the network: line 34, which serves as a combination of lines 3 and 4, connecting Loosduinen to Lansingerland-Zoetermeer railway station. West of Den Haag Centraal railway station, these lines are operated as regular

street-running A street running train is a train which runs on a track built on public streets. The rails are embedded in the roadway, and the train shares the street with other users, such as pedestrians, cars and cyclists, thus often being referred to as ru ...

tram lines, partially interlined with the local network and passing through the , a tunnel under the in the city centre. Between Den Haag Centraal and Zoetermeer, they operate on dedicated tracks as a light rail system. The section from Den Haag Centraal to Laan van NOI is elevated on a

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...

. From Laan van NOI to

Leidschenveen Leidschenveen-Ypenburg () is a Vinex-location and district of The Hague, located in the southeast. It is geographically connected to the main body of the city by only a narrow corridor. It consists of four quarters: Hoornwijk and Ypenburg on the ...

, the lines share the track and stations with line E. East of Leidschenveen, line 3 follows the same route as the former

, while lines 4 and 34 branch off towards

Oosterheem Oosterheem is one of the districts (wijken) of Zoetermeer. It lies in the north-east, near Benthuizen Benthuizen is a village in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Alphen aan den Rijn and lies about 1 km e ...

after Seghwaert station. In 2019, the Oosterheem branch was extended from Javalaan to Lansingerland-Zoetermeer.

Other services

ZoRo buses

In December 2012, two bus lines were added to the network. These so-called "ZoRo" buses run between Zoetermeer and

Rodenrijs RandstadRail station Rodenrijs is a metro station, as a part of the Rotterdam metro and the regional light rail system RandstadRail, located in Rodenrijs, the Netherlands. History The railway station opened here on 1 October 1908 as part of the Hofpleinlijn. As the ...

, where they connect with RandstadRail line E. A new bus lane was constructed for the project. The buses are operated by RET and have an almost instant connection to arriving metros at Rodenrijs station. At the termini in Zoetermeer, the ZoRo buses connect with regional bus lines ( Arriva and Veolia Transport) and RandstadRail lines 3, 4 and 34.

Associated tram lines

Despite not being a part of the RandstadRail network, lines 2 and 19 of HTM's local tram network make use of RandstadRail-liveried RegioCitadis vehicles in addition to the regular

Siemens Avenio The Siemens Avenio is a low floor tram family produced by Siemens Mobility, a subsidiary of the German conglomerate Siemens. It is the successor to the Combino family. The first generation was sold as the Combino Supra , Combino MkII, or Combino ...

trams. For line 19, this is necessary as it lacks balloon loops at its termini, meaning that the uni-directional GTL8 vehicles cannot be used on this route. Since 2015, the rolling stock of line 2 has been gradually replaced by Avenio vehicles.

Gallery

Randstadrail Forepark.jpg, Line E at Forepark station GraphyArchy - Wikipedia 00109.jpg, Line E at Den Haag Centraal station 2008 RandstadRail Station Stadhuis (2).JPG, Line 3 at Stadhuis station (Zoetermeer) HTM 4011 Den Haag Spui 16-11-2006.jpg, Line 4 at Spui station in the Netkous in 2008 1.jpg, Line 4 at Beatrixkwartier station

References

External links

Official website
(archived)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Randstadrail Light rail in the Netherlands Railway lines in the Netherlands