Amsterdam–Schiphol railway

Amsterdam-Schiphol railway
(Westtak Ringspoorbaan)
Overview
Status Operational
Locale Netherlands
Termini Amsterdam Centraal
Schiphol
Stations 4
Operation
Opened 1 June 1986
Owner ProRail
Operator(s) Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Technical
Line length 17.1 km (10.6 mi)
No. of tracks Double track
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification 1.5 kV DC
Operating speed 130 km/h (81 mph)
Route map

The Amsterdam–Schiphol railway is an important Dutch 17 kilometre long railway line, that connects Amsterdam with Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Leiden, The Hague, and Rotterdam.

History

The railway was opened by the Nederlandse Spoorwegen on 1 June 1986. The line prompted the opening of three new stations Amsterdam Sloterdijk, Amsterdam De Vlugtlaan and Amsterdam Lelylaan.

A fourth station, Amsterdam Aletta Jacobslaan, was planned but it was never opened; today, the Metro station Henk Sneevlietweg is situated on the proposed site.

In 1997 the Metro line 50 opened, running parallel with the line between Isolatorweg (between Amsterdam Centraal and Sloterdijk) and Henk Sneevlietweg (south of Amsterdam Lelylaan).

De Vlugtlaan station was closed in 2000 as part of the project to open the Hemboog which would link Schiphol with North Holland.

Route

The Amsterdam-Schiphol line leaves Amsterdam Centraal in a westerly direction. It passes Zaanstraat depot 2 km (1.2 mi) from Amsterdam Centraal, where the Oude Lijn towards Haarlem diverges. Shortly afterwards the freight-only branch line to Westhaven also diverges. 4 km (2.5 mi) out of Amsterdam Centraal, the metro line starts at Isolatorweg, running parallel to the Schiphol railway for 5 km (3.1 mi). The railway and metro both turn toward the south before reaching the bi-level Amsterdam Sloterdijk station. Here, the platforms on the line to Schiphol and the metro platforms are above the bottom lines for Haarlem and Zaandam. South of the station, the Hemboog with the line from Zaandam joins, passing through the former Amsterdam De Vlugtlaan station, which is now served only by the metro. 1.5 km (0.93 mi) after Amsterdam Lelylaan station, the metro line branches off to the east towards Amsterdam Zuid, while the line towards Schiphol branches off to the west, where it joins the Weesp-Leiden railway (also known as the original Schiphollijn) coming from Zuid station. For 3 km (1.9 mi) the line runs in the medianof the A4 motorway, before diving into the tunnel to Schiphol railway station, located under the airport terminal. From Schiphol the line continues as the Schiphollijn to Leiden.

Services

The Amsterdam–Schiphol railway is used by the following passenger services:

Types

A wide variety of trains can be found regularly on the Amsterdam–Schiphol railway:

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