Ringspoorbaan or ''ring railway'' is a railway line in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

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 ...

, consisting of a south-eastern branch Zuidtak, and a western branch Westtak. A number of metro lines also connect stations on the Ringspoorbaan.

History

While inchoate plans for the ring had been in place for many decades, parts of it, including several bridges, were built during the recession of the 1930s, when dikes were constructed to provide employment opportunities. However, the ring railway became truly feasible after the

Schiphol Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport ( nl, Luchthaven Schiphol, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer in the province ...

line opened in 1978. This line provided limited connectivity to

Amsterdam RAI railway station Amsterdam RAI (Dutch: ''Rijwiel en Automobiel Industrie'') is a railway station situated in southern Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is located between the two directions of the A10 Amsterdam ring road. It is also a metro station at which GVB runs ...

, but there was a need to connect to central Amsterdam. The southern segment (Zuidtak) connecting to

Weesp railway station Weesp is a railway station in Weesp, Netherlands. The station has two island platforms and it has a total of six tracks, from which two tracks are for passing trains. The first station in Weesp opened on June 10, 1874, when the Gooilijn from Amst ...

became operational in 1993. In 1995, with the completion of the Westtak, direct movement became possible from Schiphol to

Amsterdam Centraal Amsterdam Centraal Station ( nl, italic=no, Station Amsterdam Centraal ; abbreviation: Asd) is the largest railway station in Amsterdam, North Holland, the Netherlands. A major international railway hub, it is used by 192,000 passengers a day, m ...

. The Ringspoorbaan was also used for handling traffic to the south. However, with the opening of the

Utrechtboog The Utrechtboog is a flyover railway line in the south-east of Amsterdam, completed in March 2006, that directly connects Utrecht and Schiphol Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport ( nl, Luchthaven Schiphol, ), ...

(

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

arc) connection in 2006, some of the functionality of the Zuidtak Ringspoorbaan was diluted, and services were reduced to some junctions such as

Duivendrecht Duivendrecht () is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Ouder-Amstel, and lies about 6 km southeast of Amsterdam’s city centre. In fact, it is surrounded by Amsterdam. History The village w ...

References

{{Reflist Railway lines in the Netherlands