The Lelystad–Zwolle railway, also known as the Hanzelijn (), is a Dutch

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

line, finished in 2012. It connects

Lelystad Lelystad () is a Dutch Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and the capital city of the province of Flevoland in the central Netherlands. The city, built on reclaimed land, was founded in 1967 and was named after Cornelis Lely, who en ...

, capital of the

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

Flevoland Flevoland () is the twelfth and newest province of the Netherlands, established in 1986, when the southern and eastern Flevopolders, together with the Noordoostpolder, were merged into one provincial entity. It is in the centre of the countr ...

, with

Zwolle Zwolle () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the Capital city, capital of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Overijssel ...

, capital of the neighbouring province of

Overijssel Overijssel (; ; ; ) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the eastern part of the country. The province's name comes from the perspective of the Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht, Episcopal principality of Utrecht ...

, and provides a direct rail link between Flevoland and the north-east of the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Construction

The Hanzelijn project is 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, Urk ...

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, ) is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the m ...

and

Drachten Drachten (, ) is a town in the northern Netherlands. It is located in the municipality of Smallingerland, Friesland. It had a population of around 56.098 in 2023 and is the Friesland#Urban areas, second largest town in the province of Friesland. ...

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 Municipalities of the Netherlands, 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 ...

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 . 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. 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 30 April 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix was born during the reign of her maternal gr ...

, using the Dutch Royal Train to traverse the new track. Scheduled services began operating on 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, often 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 reclamation ...

Eastern Flevoland), and joins the existing Utrecht–Kampen railway just before the high-level fixed bridge over the river

IJssel The IJssel (; ) 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. It more immediatel ...

. 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 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