Editing Transport in the Netherlands (section)

==Rail transport==
{{main|Rail transport in the Netherlands|Dutch railway services}}
[[Image:Railroads Netherlands 2013.svg|thumb|Railway network for public transport in the Netherlands]]
[[Image:NS p4.JPG|thumb|Many trains are double-deckers]]

Most distance travelled on Dutch [[public transport]] goes by rail.<ref name="OECD-ITF"/> [[List of countries by rail transport network size|Like many other European countries]], the Netherlands has a dense railway network, totalling between {{convert|7,021|km|mi}} and {{convert|7,300|km|mi}} of track,<ref name=ProRailnumbers>{{cite web |url=https://www.prorail.nl/over-prorail/wat-doet-prorail/prorail-in-cijfers |title=ProRail in cijfers |author=<!--Not stated--> |language=nl |trans-title=ProRail in numbers |year=2017 |publisher=[[ProRail]] |access-date=20 August 2018}}</ref><ref name=SpoorPro>{{cite web |url=https://www.spoorpro.nl/spoorbouw/2018/08/20/prorail-spoor-barst-uit-de-voegen/ |title=ProRail: spoor barst uit zijn voegen |language=nl |trans-title=ProRail: rail network is bursting at the seams |last=Kruidhof |first=Carlijn |date=20 August 2018 |website=SpoorPro (Trade magazine for the Rail Sector) |publisher=[[ProMedia Group]] |access-date=22 August 2018 }}</ref> or 3,013 ''route'' km, three quarters of which has been [[Railway electrification|electrified]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2121.html#nl |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613005444/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2121.html#nl |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 June 2007 |title=CIA World Factbook &#124; Field listing: Railways |date=2012 |website=www.cia.gov |publisher=U.S. Central Intelligence Agency |access-date=7 July 2014}}</ref> The network is mostly focused on passenger transport <ref name="intense"/> and connects almost all major towns and cities, counting just over 400 [[Railway stations in the Netherlands|train stations]],<ref name=ProRailnumbers/> more than there are [[municipalities of the Netherlands|municipalities in the Netherlands]]. The national rail [[infrastructure]] is managed by [[Government-owned corporation|public task company]] [[ProRail]], and a number of different operators have [[Concession (contract)|concessions]] to run their trains. ProRail also coordinates the totality of scheduling and proper meshing of the [[Dutch railway services]].<ref name=SpoorPro/>

Public passenger [[rail transport]] is operated mainly by [[Nederlandse Spoorwegen|Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS)]] (''Dutch Railways''); minor parts by [[Arriva]], [[Keolis Nederland]], [[Connexxion]], [[Breng]], [[DB Regio]], [[NMBS]], [[Veolia Transport Nederland|Veolia]]<ref>Veolia Transportation, [https://www.veolia-transport.nl/nederland/index.html Veolia Transport] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017104546/https://www.veolia-transport.nl/nederland/index.html |date=17 October 2015 }}, retrieved 25 March 2015. {{in lang|nl}}</ref> and [[DB Regionalbahn Westfalen]]. During week days all railway stations are serviced at least twice an hour in each direction.{{#tag:ref|On 14 December 2014 a revised railway timetable was implemented in the Netherlands, providing half-hour service to every station served by the NS in the country. |group="nb"}} Large parts of the network are serviced by two to four trains per hour on average. Heavily used routes can be serviced by 8 to 16 trains an hour.<ref name=SpoorPro/>

In recent years, the four largest railway stations in the Netherlands, the [[central station]]s of each of the largest cities: [[Amsterdam Centraal railway station|Amsterdam]], [[Rotterdam Centraal railway station|Rotterdam]], [[Den Haag Centraal railway station|The Hague]] and [[Utrecht Centraal railway station|Utrecht]], have all entered into major reconstruction and expansion. Rotterdam Central station was completely rebuilt, and was the first to complete, reopening in March 2014.
The Hague Central station and Utrecht Central station were reopened, after extensive reconstructions, in February and December 2016, respectively.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://denhaag.com/en/event/43434/opening-the-hague-central-station| title = Opening The Hague Central Station – DenHaag.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.prorail.nl/projecten/utrecht |title = Utrecht - We naderen de ontknoping - Utrecht - ProRail (in Dutch; archived) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116214929/http://www.prorail.nl/projecten/utrecht |archive-date=16 January 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
Amsterdam Central station has been undergoing a string of reconstruction works that started in 1997, and is yet to complete.

In 2015 a consultancy comparison of Europe's railway systems found the Dutch network the most cost effective for its performance, together with Finland's.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.consultancy.uk/news/1958/uk-rail-system-8th-in-europe-service-quality-main-issue |title = UK rail system 8th in Europe, service quality main issue – Consultancy.UK (archived) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150711094307/http://www.consultancy.uk/news/1958/uk-rail-system-8th-in-europe-service-quality-main-issue |archive-date=11 July 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Per kilometre of track, the Dutch rail network is the busiest in the European Union,<ref name="intense">{{cite web |url=http://www.treinreiziger.nl/kennisnet/nederlandse_spoor_zeer_intensief_gebruikt |title=Nederlandse spoor zeer intensief gebruikt |trans-title=Dutch railtracks intensely used |language=nl |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=1 March 2009 |website=www.treinreiziger.nl |publisher=Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) |access-date=9 July 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714152909/http://www.treinreiziger.nl/kennisnet/nederlandse_spoor_zeer_intensief_gebruikt |archive-date=14 July 2014 }}</ref> handling over a million passengers a day.<ref name="ACS">{{cite web |url=http://www.nu.nl/weekend/3894182/125-jaar-amsterdam-centraal-van-300-300000-reizigers-per-dag.html |title=125 jaar Amsterdam Centraal |last=Hofland |first=Dick |language=nl |trans-title=Amsterdam Central station 125 years |date=3 October 2014 |publisher=[[Sanoma|Sanoma Media Netherlands]] |access-date=4 October 2014}}</ref>  For 2019 some 2.2 million train journeys are scheduled to travel a record number of 165 million ''train'' kilometres (103 million train miles) — a growth of 28%, up from 124 million km in 2004. Until 2030 ProRail projects a further growth of ''passenger'' kilometres by another 45 percent. For 2019, also 8 percent more freight trains are scheduled than in 2018.<ref name=SpoorPro/>

===Future developments===
On the initiative of two European parties: [[RailNetEurope]] and [[Forum Train Europe]], a project called "Redesign of the International Timetabling Process (TTR)" should help to harmonise planning freight- and passenger trains across Europe, to optimize usage of existing rail tracks. Currently, almost all freight trains (96%) deviate from their original schedule, due to the dynamic nature of cargo transport. The new TTR must facilitate ProRail to let unscheduled freight trains run more easily, without requiring complex shifting in the regular passenger train timetables.<ref name=SpoorPro/> As of 2020, timetables will be detailed to tenths of minutes (six second units), instead of whole minutes, to further optimise planning.<ref name=SpoorPro/>

In the long term, significant capacity gains could only be achieved by adding more rail tracks, ''or'' transforming large portions of the Dutch railway system to run more like a metro / subway system, which could support up to 24 to 30 trains per hour on the busiest lines. This would however require a structural disentanglement of the current situation, in which trains, train drivers and conductors all have their own work schedules, following the Japanese model.<ref name=SpoorPro2>{{cite web |url=https://www.spoorpro.nl/management/2018/08/14/nederland-presteert-even-goed-als-japan-bij-versimpelen-spoornetwerk/ |title=Nederland kan even goed presteren als Japan bij versimpelen spoornetwerk |language=nl |trans-title=Netherlands can perform as well as Japan upon simplification of rail systems |last=van Gompel |first=Marieke |date=14 August 2018 |website=SpoorPro (Trade magazine for the Rail Sector) |publisher=[[ProMedia Group]] |access-date=22 August 2018 }}</ref> However, at the moment there are no real plans for such steps.<ref name=SpoorPro/>