Harmelen is a town in the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

province of

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

. It is a part of the municipality of

Woerden Woerden () is a city and a municipality in central Netherlands. Due to its central location between Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht, and the fact that it has rail and road connections to those cities, it is a popular town for commu ...

, and lies about 6 km east of Woerden. In 2001, the town of Harmelen had 6557 inhabitants. The built-up area of the town was 1.11 km², and contained 2481 residences.Statistics Netherlands (CBS), ''Bevolkingskernen in Nederland 2001'

. Statistics are for the continuous built-up area. Harmelen is on the railway line between Utrecht (city), Utrecht and Woerden; its train station was opened on 21 May 1855 and closed on 15 May 1936.Stationsweb.nl
/ref> In 1962, two passenger trains collided near Harmelen. The

Harmelen train disaster The Harmelen train disaster, on 8 January 1962, was the worst railway accident in the history of the Netherlands. Harmelen, in the central Netherlands, is the location of a railway junction where a branch to Amsterdam leaves the Rotterdam to Ut ...

, resulting in 93 fatalities, was the largest train accident in Dutch history. The village used to be a separate municipality, until it merged with Woerden in 2001. Before the merger the municipality of Harmelen had about 8000 inhabitants.

Notable people born in Harmelen

Ellen van Dijk Eleonora Maria "Ellen" van Dijk (; born 11 February 1987) is a Dutch professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . Besides road cycling she was also a track cyclist until 2012. Van Dijk is known as a tim ...

, (born 1987) – professional racing cyclist *

Dico Koppers Dico Koppers (born 31 January 1992) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a left back for Ajax Amateurs in the Derde Klasse. Club career Ajax Koppers began his footballing career in Utrecht, playing for the local amateur side SCH'4 ...

, (born 1992) – soccerplayer by

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

Theo de Rooij Theo de Rooij (born 25 April 1957 in Harmelen) is a retired Dutch former bicycle racer and former manager of the Rabobank cycling team - a position from which he resigned after the 2007 Tour de France. De Rooij was a professional rider from 1980 ...

, (born 1957) – former racing cyclist and manager of the Rabobank cycling team *

James Cornelius van Miltenburg James Cornelius van Miltenburg O.F.M., also known as Alcuin van Miltenburg (14 September 1909 - 14 March 1966), was a Dutch prelate of the Catholic Church who was a missionary bishop in Pakistan, the first bishop of Karachi and of Hyderabad, Pakist ...

, (born 1909) – first Archbishop of Karachi

References

Municipalities of the Netherlands disestablished in 2001 Populated places in Utrecht (province) Former municipalities of Utrecht (province) Woerden {{Utrecht-geo-stub