Rotterdam’s Funky, Wacky Rapid Transit
Вставка
- Опубліковано 8 чер 2024
- Get Nebula using my link for 40% off an annual subscription: go.nebula.tv/rmtransit
Watch City Beautiful's Planning Ancient Rome: nebula.tv/planning-ancient-ro...
Watch this video ad-free on Nebula: nebula.tv/videos/rmtransit-ro...
The Netherlands has a strange history with metros, and so today we will start back where it all began - looking at the very unique, and rather odd Rotterdam Metro (and RandstadRail)!
Special thanks to @OntarioTrafficMan and Jan-Peter de Graaff (@jpdegraaff ) for providing the amazing footage used in this video!
As always, leave a comment down below if you have ideas for our future videos. Like, subscribe, and hit the bell icon so you won't miss my next video!
=PATREON=
If you'd like to help me make more videos & get exclusive behind the scenes access and early video releases, consider supporting my Patreon! Every dollar goes towards helping my channel grow & reach more people.
Patreon: / rmtransit
=ATTRIBUTION=
Epidemic Sound (Affiliate Link): share.epidemicsound.com/nptgfg
Nexa from Fontfabric.com
Map Data © OpenStreetMap contributors: www.openstreetmap.org/copyright
Some imagery used in this video may be licensed under Creative Commons:
CC BY-SA: creativecommons.org/licenses/...
CC BY: creativecommons.org/licenses/...
GFDL: www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl-1.3....
Thumbnail Art: / enumchase
Thumbnail Based on image from Ontario Traffic Man
=COMMUNITY DISCORD SERVER=
Discord Server: / discord
(Not officially affiliated with the channel)
=MY SOCIAL MEDIA=
Twitter: / rm_transit
Instagram: / rm_transit
Website: rmtransit.com
Substack: reecemartin.substack.com
=ABOUT ME=
Ever wondered why your city's transit just doesn't seem quite up to snuff? RMTransit is here to answer that, and help you open your eyes to all of the different public transportation systems around the world!
Reece (the RM in RMTransit) is an urbanist and public transport critic residing in Toronto, Canada, with the goal of helping the world become more connected through metros, trams, buses, high-speed trains, and all other transport modes.
Rotterdam metro driver here.. Great video with no false information. I wanted to add one thing about our Future plans; there are many (almost mandatory, because of the population growth) routes on schedule, but no one wants to pay for it.
Glad you sorted out everything, so now people from all over the world can enjoy our beautiful system! 😃
Aren't you guys opening het strand end of month?
That is an interesting bit of single trackage.
Lets see if the promissed future will finally come true this summer..reaching station Hoek van Holland beach on the "Hoekse lijn" 😉
@@connorcrowley1 yep!
So awesome to see you watched! Thanks for the insightful comments too!
@@evandalen4227 March 31 will be the opening day! (if everything goes right)
One of the things with the metro conversions of suburban rail in the Netherlands is that most of these rail lines have long operated as effectively isolated lines in the network. It was many decades since the last international trains went to Hoek van Holland, and the Zoetermeer/Hofplein railways routed basically exclusively into Den Haag Centraal. Under these circumstances it made basically no sense to keep them as railway and the change to metro/light rail was a huge upgrade.
For sure because it also enables more service!
The Sodner Bahn, which connects Frankfurt-Höchst and Bad Soden with each other, also is in a similar position: It's a shuttle between both stations and is fairly limited in scope but plans exist to integrate it into the U-Bahn network which extends it further south (this also had to be done anyway as the line will have a branch to Eschborn installed as part of an orbital line).
The U-bahn? Do you perhaps mean S-Bahn? This line is pretty far from the existing U-Bahn lines.
@@2712animefreak I really mean the U-Bahn: The terminus of Praunheim will be expanded westwards, making a connection to Höchst over Eschborn which in turn uses part of the Sodner Bahn. Look up the Regiontangente West to see what I mean.
@@RMTransit hi thanks for the great content, I'm from Hoek van Holland, small issue, den Hague is not where you put the label on the map, it's further north up the coast.
Where you put the label is the greenhouse area of the Westland, forgivable because it all looks like a city and one village joins into another.
Have a great day
As a transport planner in The Hague, you forgot the main advantage of the conversion: usage!
Ridership boomed after the conversion to metro (or tram-train for Zoetermeer). Turns out having a direct connection through the city center and a higher frequency is more important to users than the advantages of mainline trains.
Also fun fact: there are freight trains using a small portion of the Rotterdam metro network (in Vlaardingen). These use the old conmections to the port from when it was a mainline railway.
These freight trains are wider than metro trains. Thus, they have a special track that sits about half a metre further away from the platforms, the end of which can be seen at 9:16
You have a dream job!! I wish I can work your job.
@@IIVQ The American term for this is a "Gantlet" track.
Yes, I mentioned the freight trains and gauntlet track in the video on the Hoekse line, referenced here
@@andrewmasin5787 The British term is "Interlaced".
What should be noted is that the Dutch public transit network (especially in the Randstad) is truly a network. What you don't see is how the entire national passenger rail network ties into these networks, and how this is bolstered by excellent walkability and bikeability.
Cries in Hellevoetsluis', still have to watch the majority of the video, maybe he mentions it later, but the end point in Spijkenisse has been left open since (where those carts crashed on whales when the breaks didn't work, some 5 year ago. But unlike the initial plan of growing to ~120,000/150,000, we grew to around 50,000 and to many people it's pretty useless to finish it. Their excuse is; " It would bring a lot more crime..." > I'm 44 and have been reading about this plan on and off for my whole life. As a child, there was a still a tourist tram here, which used to be a direct line from a ferry here, to the South of Rotterdam (Rosenstraat). That line went through Spijkenisse, so at least now we got a sort of straight cycle path out of it, lol.
But when you look at the map, the best location would be Halfweg II, the edge of Spijk. Make a big (Free) parking lot and station, people from Brielle, Oostvoorne, Hellevoet and even from the island Goerree, would take the metro there. With bus and metro it's really not that appealing when you also have to take another form of transit when you get of the metro. Sometimes it's better to drive to Slinge, park there for free and then hop on.
as someone who grew up in suburban USA, living in Rotterdam is amazing, theres literally every type of public transit available with the buses, trams, metro, trains, and even ferries, I use the metro nearly every day so its nice to see it appreciated, and to remind myself I'm lucky to live in a place with such reliable frequent public transit!
The two trunk lines of the Rotterdam Metro System were named Noord-Zuidlijn and Oost-Westlijn, and later renamed to Erasmuslijn and Calandlijn in 1997. The current system of letters and colours were introduced because it was confusing for non-locals.
Even more so confusing when both lines were tied together at Spijkenisse, because how can you have a Western most branch that meets up with the Southern most branch? So they dropped the names and colours (red and blue), and gave them all their own letter and colour.
As someone from Zoetermeer who has lived in The Hague and Rotterdam, I still find it confusing when they say "richting De Akkers" or something. How am I supposed to know where that is? Aren't there akkers everywhere? 🤣 It would have always seemed more logical for me to say "westbound" or "eastbound" or something.
@@Bianca_Toeps Exactly!
It has been a pet peeve of mine, how unclear the routes and directions are when you're standing on the platform itself. Unless you're experienced, it's just confusing.
They could learn from Budapest, where they list the stations the rail line will go to, visible from the platform, behind where the metro stops.
Shenzhen's metro also originally named its lines but later changed them to numbers e.g. _LuoBao_ (罗宝/羅寶) line is a portmaneau of _Luohu_ (罗/羅湖) & _Baoan_ (宝/寶安), 2 of the districts served by the line, but it's now known as Line 1. On the other hand Japan's subways/metros are still sticking to their lines' names, but their meanings can be more transparent than you think e.g. _Fukutoshin_ (副都心)- "auxiliary metropolis centre", _Tozai_ (東/东西) - "east west". Singapore's also sticking to naming its lines but there came a time where it was probably running out of names to give, hence we get the generically named Downtown Line (I would've called it the _Bukit_ ('hill/mountain' in Malay) Line as it serves *_Bukit_*_ Panjang_ town, *_Bukit_*_ Timah_ region & _Kaki _*_Bukit_* neighbourhood)
@@Bianca_Toeps Metrostation Berkel Westpolderhas the words Noordwaarts and Zuidwaarts (Northbound and Southbound) from outside visible to the respective platforms.
When I visited Rotterdam and took the metro, I was very confused seeing catenary after getting of the train, as I clearly remember having seen 3rd rail at the station when getting on the train
There really isn’t a lot of systems where you can do that!
@@RMTransit Boston
Something Amsterdam ditched, but those metro’s itself are still in service. The line itself is now only purely driven with trams.
Seeing a train doing a conversion from the 3rd rail to overhead wire while being in motion is one of those things that never get old to me. You can see this happen at Station Capelsebrug. That or at Schiedam Nieuweland 6:12
Hey! The Hague (mentioned at 2:47) is up north from what you showed in the video. You actually showed "Westland" a big agricultural logistics and production hub of vegetables and flowers/plants in greenhouses. They should be linked up with a metro to The Hague and Rotterdam as there're only bus routes that take ages to get you to The Hague and Rotterdam.
The extension of line B between Hoek van Holland and Schiedam suffered major budget and planning overruns and they're now in the final phase of completion as the extension from Hoek van Holland Haven (port) to Hoek van Holland Strand (beach). The metro literally halts at only 100 meters from the beach and they had to engineer tracks that didn't suffer from sand accumulation. This is a new section instead of a converted section and they're planning to open it to the public in the coming weeks.
The former national railway line has a rich history. It served major international trains connecting Great Brittain via ferry and Europe via the Orient Express, Scandinavian Express and Rheingold Express.
Glad to see this mentioned. It struck me immediately and compelled me to double-check on Google maps.
4:18 Before the end of 2009 they actually had names similar to London, with the north-south line being Erasmuslijn and the eas-west line being Callandlijn (the portion to Den Haag was not connceted to the rest by then).
It turned out that especially tourists, but also natives, found it very confusing, so they decided to give each branch its own letter.
The Hague is beautiful! It's something I wish a lot of my countrymen would see before they die! Like Henry Kissinger for instance.
I suggest to take a look to Den Hague Central station.
Beside Rotterdam metro terminal station, inside the hall an elevated tram track passes by with a stop to interchange with rails and metro.
Very peculiar and interesting design
I go there every workday, so if you need any photos...
The weird thing is that the whole expensive metro terminus thingy was built atop Den Haag Centraal to free up tracks 11 and 12 under pressure from NS/Prorail. Which promptly neglected to do anything with the tracks for the next ten years or so. They're only just getting upgraded.
Metro line E was converted from a unprofitable branch line to a successful metro line. The same happened with the Hoekse lijn.
It’s a very interesting approach!
The hoekse lijn wasn’t unprofitable for the NS
The ns itself is unprofitable for the country😒
@@fen0221 have you seen the Rail companies in the countries around the Netherlands? The NS is pretty good
@@fen0221 NS turned a profit every year until the pandemic, and those profits were returned to Dutch taxpayers.
Yay, I requested this video a while ago. Can't wait to watch it😊🔥
Yay! Thank you!
Fun fact, when the first metro line opened in 1968, is was one of the shortest at the time at less than 6 km. All the branches have a history of being extended little bits at a time with for instance the terminus station on the Western end having been Coolhaven, Marconiplein, Schiedam Central and currently Hoek van Holland Haven which from the looks of it will finally be officially extended and opened to the public to Hoek van Holland Strand (the beach!) next month after many years of delays. This is also why at Coolhaven and Marconiplein the platform is in the middle (departing trains could be on both tracks), while on most stations they are on the right side of the driving direction.
The Netherlands is one of the most forward thinking countries on Earth! They combine marvellous engineering with simple, pragmatic concepts.
Netherlands* holland are two federal states/regions in the country
so forward thinking in fact that they forgot about what happened between 1945 and 1949
Agreed
@@defaultmesh ?? what are you even referring to?
*Netherlands.
A small addition on "De Hoekse lijn" is that that track is also used by freight trains. In the video at 6:12 you show one of the stations where a 3rd rail is visible, That rail is part of the "solution" so freight trains can pass the stations, since the Metro has another format than the regular freight trains. One extention on the Hoekse Lijn still in progress is the connection to the beach.
The extension to the beach can be seen multiple times in this video, with running trains. However, these trains are running in test operation on the new section and don't take any passengers yet. But at last, on March 31st the extension will finally be opened!
Ah, thanks for that. I found the extra set of rails confusing, but yes, it has to do with the profile ("profiel vrije ruimte"). There's a similar situation somewhere in Germany.
From my experience Rotterdam has a quite incredible system which makes travelling so fast and easy. I'd honestly recommend you take a look at the transit system of Groningen, it's a quite small city in the north of the Netherlands but it has one of the best bus systems in the world in my opinion and it shows that public transport can work even to rural areas.
I will definitely cover the Netherlands more in the future
@@RMTransit that'd be really great to see, there are some quite unique transit systems here so there's more than enough to cover
I agree. Groningen buses have metro like infrastructure in places, grade separated with even an elevated station (Ulgersmaweg). The main routes are (being) electrified. Only Almere is better.
Fun fact: Since the first line opened in 1968, The Netherlands had one of the shortest metroline of the world by only 5,9km in lenght. The first line, line D/E was only from Rotterdam Central Station to Zuidplein.
And now at 160km it is probably one of the longest
I think the line went one stop further to Slinge :-). And in the seventies it was extended to Hoogvliet-Zalmplaat and later to the current end point Spijkenisse.
@@remcobrouwer3781 It was one year later when it was extended to Slinge.
Welll… Lets just say that Dutch people are very active on UA-cam and love to see stuff about their own country, which is why I’m not surprised at all that this was recommended a lot😂 (I’m from the Netherlands as well so I know)
Gekoloniseerd 😂
@@thomasrandwijk Aangezien dat Reece en ik Canadees zijn is het eigenlijk jullie die G E K O L O N I S E E R D worden!
Love it! I've very fond of rotterdam's transit and I really appreciate it when you make videos like this.
Glad you enjoy it!
Considering your channel is literally called Rotterdam Metro Transit, it's no surprise this is your most requested video.
OMG I am so happy that you made a video about the Rotterdam metro! I use this metro almost every day. Btw, there might be an extension of the metro network coming soon, as there are plans for another north-south line, connecting the current north-south line directly to the more eastern part of the west-east tunnel. However, it is more likely that this will become a tram line.
Thanks for the info! I’m happy you enjoyed
Hi Khan, sorry to say that option has been scrapped. It will be another tramline along the strevelsweg across the new bridge to Kralingse Zoom. Main cause was the cost of course of a new metro tunnel (and the scrapping of the new stadium).
@@maartenbaas8513 as far as I know the final decision hasn't been made yet. But yeah, it's 99% surely gonna be another tram line, even though the city council wanted a metro :/ (thx national government)
Verdomme, ik had nooit verwacht jou nog eens hier te zien... Hopelijk gaat alles goed daarzo :D
Where do you keep up to date on this? I try to follow the city’s projects but haven’t yet found a great source
As a Dutch viewer of your channel, I'd like to compliment you on your pronunciation of the Dutch words. Very well done!
One more quirky part of the metro is on the line to Hoek van Holland between Schiedam and Vlaardingen. Here the former railway, now metro tracks are still used by mainline freight trains during the night when there are no metro services. They had to create a solution with the track as seen at 9:15 at 2 station to fit the wider freight trains into the loading gauge of the metro.
Yes that's why he referred to my video on the Hoekse Lijn, which discusses those things
They also run during the day (outside rush hours), as i happened to be on a Metro train waiting on a station to let a freight train pass
been waiting for this for a while!
Thanks for watching!
The metro of Rotterdam make use of the signalling system LZB (Linienförmige Zugbeeinflussung). LZB is also used in Germany for the high speed train lines. From station Melanchtonweg in Rotterdam (Line E) the metro will use overhead wires, but it is also a switch from the LZB system to the ZUB 222c, because the trams of the Randstadrail use ZUB 222c signalling system.
Beveiligingssysteem in het Engels is "signalling system", of "train protection system"
Line E used to only be served by randstad rail which used to have way superior metros than any other line, later all the old metros on the other lines got upgraded seating and a couple years after that they all started using the same metros, the branding at that point stopped making sense and i think the only it still exists is because it costs money to change it and nobody really seems to care, also the old metros used to be shorter, 3 wagons would be about the size of 2 new ones which created more flexibility as they could even go up to 4 wagons long which is still more than they can achieve with the new ones because the metro would be longer than the stations, hence why 2 wagons seems to be the default, they still sometimes take out the old metros though, i think they are stored in Rhoon but they only do that when there are issues with the other ones
Addition: The metro line will be extended to the beach at Hoek van Holland on March 31, 2023. All residents of the Rijnmond region can walk to the beach in 1 minute from the Strand stop.
Great vid as always!!
Glad you enjoyed!
The Hague is a bit misplaced in the shot with the airport. It is a bit further north close the big highway interchange called prins clausplein. Where you put The Hague now is hoek van holland plus what is called westland and has a lot of agricultural companies harvesting fruit and vegetables using greenhouses.
Yes, there are a crazy number of greenhouses!
It is not just “a bit” misplaced. The text is positioned on an entire different municipality. I’m just being clear on this. On the map itself it already says where The Hague is
Great video (as always!), but you missed the unique structures they have in Spijkenisse to prevent trains from crashing down ;-)
😂🐋🐋
No it's quite normal for there to be a tail track at the end of a metro line
@@OntarioTrafficMan I'm afraid you missed the reference :) Have a search for "walvis metro"!
At least a picture of the crashed metro on the whale tails.
De walvissen 😅😅🐋🐋
There is an actual practical use to the 4 bogies setup. In the afternoon they will decouple 1 of the units and return it to the depot, its to ensure to keep maintanance at minimum. The older 3 bogies train rarely get decoupled anymore, however 2 units are always needed because 1 unit only has one cab, so they almost always run 3 units. But in the past they’d run 4, but the newer stations don’t support 4 unit long trains. Only line C and D can in some surcomstances run 4 unit long trains. They don’t ever do this anymore sadly.
Some possible interesting facts; it was the first metro system in The Netherlands and upon being built the smallest in the world. Needed to be built because the old Willemsbrug clogging up. Also apart of rail maintenance the system makes a profit.
Been waiting for this one, great video!
Glad you enjoyed!
What really should also be mentioned is how in The Netherlands the "last mile" problem is of course completely solved by cycling. Its all a tiered system : bike -> tram/bus/metro -> train -> high speed train/plane or the other way around of course. This system completely replaces the need for a car since it truly provides a door-to-door service. The massive bike parkings and very cheap rental bikes (ov fiets 4 euro per day) are an essential part of this. The metro system therefore does not have to be as dense as for example London or Paris where ideally a station is within walking distance. Walking is only 5km/h while cycling is 15km/h on average.
Rotterdams metro system looks amazing, almost just as much as Amsterdam, the stations and rolling stock look spectacular
Couldn't agree more! Though it is also rather strange!
I would say the Rotterdam system is even more beautiful than the Amsterdam system, as the only impressive part of the Amsterdam metro is the new Noord-Zuidlijn. That's the only part of the Amsterdam Metro system that really feels like a metro line. The rest of the Amsterdam network (apart from a few kilometres underneath the city centre) is more like an S-bahn (like in Berlin), which runs next to the NS national rail tracks for it's full length, only with some more intermediate stations.
Calling something from Rotterdam "almost as good" as something from Amsterdam isn't going to make you a lot of friends in Rotterdam. 🙂
There are basically three major difference between the two cities that are relevant to their metro systems:
1) Amsterdam is built on a swamp.
2) Rotterdam was bombed into oblivion during the war.
3) Some very stupid mistakes were made in Amsterdam.
Comparing Rotterdam and Amsterdam is like discussing the relative merits of Dutch and French in Belgium: a subject best left well alone. The cities have very different vibes to them. The way I see it, mostly because of the bombardments of Rotterdam. (There were more, mostly by the allies, but the one of 14th May 1940 by the Germans was the most devastating.)
Amsterdam looks much like it did in the 17th century. Rotterdam has amazing architecture, but I feel that the heart was ripped out of the city in 1940, and you can see the result to this very day.
@@ronaldvanhemiksem3544 Juist. 🙂
Fun fact (and also personal opinion): Rotterdam metro has a very weird vibe with puke green tinted glasses and green seat covers on an otherwise grey & red train. Makes you feel like you're in the matrix :D
i have never thought of it that way
Yeah the green tint does give it a kind of plasticky feel
@@OntarioTrafficMan luckily the plastic seats have been gone since 2018 and have all been converted to fabric on the old metro's (SG2/1 and MG2/1)
Rotterdam Metro certainly reminds me of a more grade separated version of the Frankfurt U-Bahn, you thus can see this explainer as a precursor to the latter's which itself will (probably) function as a precursor to the Stadtbahn explainers of Cologne, the Ruhr Area and Stuttgart given these share more characteristics of trams than Rotterdam and Frankfurt's systems do.
what makes the rotterdam metro stand out to me compared to the one in amsterdam is the demographic using it. From experience the rotterdam metro is filled much more diverse, and especially has a high number of elderly people with walkers/mobility scooters using it compared to transport elsewhere in the country.
Rotterdam is a proper city.
Amsterdam is an oversized tourist town.
Because it serves more central and important areas. Meanwhile many Amsterdam neighbourhoods aren't served by metro so many people don't have a need for it and rely on buses and trams instead and for many people the metro is completely irrelevant in their daily lives. I also think most of Amsterdam's elderly tend to stick to their own neighbourhoods more because they are more complete (more to do) than the average Rotterdam neighbourhood.
As someone from Rotterdam I visited Amsterdam last weekend. Where I prefer taking public transport in Rotterdam I mostly walk in Amsterdam. I was however a bit taken aback when I walked through the party districts. There was a much more hostile atmosphere than in the crowded places in Rotterdam. Not aggressive mind you, but less friendly. I've also encountered more hostility in the Amsterdam public transport system than in the Rotterdam one.
Amsterdam, with its pre-war city centre, was developed around walking and cycling, and in general much more compact. You can almost always just walk to everything you need.
Rotterdam, on the other hand, was designed with the post-war car boom in mind. Distances are larger, you have more wide roads to cross. People who would normally just ride their mobility scooter along the narrow car streets or walk along the sidewalks, probably choose or need to go by public transport in Rotterdam.
@@mfbfreak and Ajax lost.
As briefly mentioned the Netherlands public transport system is interconnected.The Rotterdam Metro is a perfect example off that. On the south side of the city of Rotterdam ( Station Zuidplein) is a large bus terminal that serves as hub into the city and the national railway system that connects rural areas a far as Zealand ( approximately a hundred kilometres away) into the system. In the city centre ( station centraal) the metro connects to the national railway system and international trains plus it serves as hub to the Rotterdam Tram system which mainly covers Rotterdams urban area on the north side of the city.
It is funny how you look at the Rotterdam transport system @RMTransit. I grew up in Spijkenisse, where the C and D lines end in the south part. I have seen a lot of the metro lines expand over the years. When I was a child the C line was called Calandline and went from Marconiplein to Capelle a/d IJssel and de D line was the Erasmusline going from the Akkers (where the famous metro landed on the whale tails) to Rotterdam Central Station. I used the metro a lot in my school time and in my opinion the Rotterdam metro line is one of the most clear compared to Paris or NYC.
Well done explainer, but on 3:03 you're showing the Westland-region as The Hague ;)
I always take Line E to Den Haag centraal and then take the tram to the beach
Rotterdam isn't the only Metro with level crossings because IIRC so does the Tyne and Wear metro.
He wasn't implying it's the only one (he mentioned them on the Chicago L and Oslo T-Bana as well), he was merely highlighting the side effects from the conversion.
Doesn’t look like the easiest to learn the most effective way to get around town. Must have been a piecemeal design
It was a piecemeal design, but it isn't that difficult (assuming one can read a map).
Funny that your first clip of R'dam metro was at Den Haag NOI! They really are twin cities. I live on that line and great service, because of the interlining better service than I ever had in NYC.
P.S. you left out the fact that R'dam is so much better than A'dam!
P.S.S. the different brands are actually different operators with different ownership schemes.
Probably because 1 of the lines extend to Den Haag
@@RobertDoornbosF1 i know! My local stop is on that line.
@@connorcrowley1 Ah okay, couldn't figure from the name ur a local😅
@@RobertDoornbosF1 well... Technically I am from Noord Holland.
@@connorcrowley1 No no I didn't mean that you aren't a local. Just that I couldn't figure out from the name. If you were like Kees Boerman I probably would not have commented
Someone who uses the RET Daily/weekly I didn’t even need to read the title when I saw the thumbnail of the ret metro
That makes me very happy and means the drawing was good!
7:38 what an awesome guideway!
I agree it’s super unique
The Sheffield Supertram network in the UK also has that split level platform arrangement at Rotherham Centrall station on a recent extension, where low floor tram-trains share track with high floor heavy passenger rail services and freights.
I think limited level crossings, perhaps exclusively at the lower frequency extremities of a light metro network, are OK as long as the general traffic level and its management ensures road vehicles can't block back across the rails, which risks delaying trains even if they can always safely stop clear of such obstructions. Fixed obstacle detection technology using radar or lidar scanners installed at the crossing might enable these to become compatible with future automation of metro driving. In central sections of lines where very high frequency of rail service operates, level crossings are definitely undesirable, not least because their highways would be closed for extended periods, rendering them fairly useless, except perhaps for very low demand access purposes.
The lack of recent investments into the Dutch rail network, both mainline and metro systems is really down to our center right neo liberal government who are not at all interested in public transport. They only want our rail networks to become more efficient without having to do any major investments to actually improve the network.
Bullocks, this government coalition reserves a 4 billion extra investment in public transport. That is on top of the regular budget. I’m not a fan of this government coalition but your statement is false.
@@RealConstructor Yeah, sure! That's why our prime minister calls his own party the "Vroem, vroem-partij" for no reason... Furthermore, one investment in our transit system doesn't make up for years of desinvestment. This lack of insight in the importance of the commons, is, by the way, typical of the neoliberal worldview.
that the dutch transit system is one of the best in the world keeps surprising me cuz for me as a daily commuter though its not bad i feel like it could be so much more
Hi RM, love your vids. When discussing tram systems with NIMBYs I find that there are two things they are worried about: Safety and noise. They say that trams are dangerous (due to collisions with cars, I know, the irony) and that they make an infernal noise when passing by, which is especially problematic for people who live close to tram lines in urban areas. I would really like to see a video from you on these topics.
I have the impression that these issues can be addressed with proper traffic planning and noise-cancelling technology, but I actually don't know... so I'm a little stumped when I discuss trams with NIMBYs.
Thanks for all your great work!
Trams are objectively more dangerous than buses when making them share space with pedestrians, cyclists and cars. In Amsterdam, per passenger-kilometer, they're the most lethal method of transport to other road users. Tram gutters also cause many accidents with cyclists. There are many places where cyclists and trams share the same space.
The reason for the many deaths caused by trams is simple: a tram weighs about 5 times more than a bus, and rail brakes are much less powerful than tires on asphalt. This results in a brake distance that's just unacceptable when you make such a vehicle interact with other vehicles and pedestrians.
With today's very effective electric buses, a dedicated bus road constructed in much the same way as a tram track, is the ideal solution for situations where you otherwise have a rail vehicle interacting with other road users. You have a slight rolling resistance penalty, but if you really want, you can make it a trolleybus system like in Arnhem.
Where you can keep rail vehicles physically separate from the rest, they're more efficient and safe enough.
Any transit system should be tailored to the situation. We have better alternatives to trams in the situations where interaction with other traffic is a given. We have better alternatives to buses where traffic is separate.
With regards to sound - i've stayed at someone's place in Amsterdam De Pijp a couple of weeks. They had very thick sound isolating windows and special sound isolating ventilation systems. Nothing came through those windows, except the deep rumble of steel wheels on steel track. Vibrations travel through the earth into the house.
Buses were completely inaudible - even though those were still diesel ones at that time.
Finally, the most modern trams of Amsterdam are the loudest in curves, which is really painful to those who lived near a tram line for years without being bothered but are now confronted with the metallic squeal multiple times per hour. They're trying to fix it, idk if it's already done or whether nothing can be done.
Missed an opportunity to show the picture of the metro accident where the front car of the metro ended up on a big whale tail statue! Truly one of the best pictures i've ever seen.
Schiphol is in theory 24/7 available by rail, but during the night there are only very inefficient trains that only go a few times per night. So it might take a few hours (!) extra getting there compared to getting there during the day
Uhh, Reece, Den Haag is not there where you put it at 3:04. It's waay more north to that, closer to the big junction between the A4 and A12 motorways, the Prins Clausplein. The area you're calling Den Haag is actually called "westland" and consists of a lot of greenhouse farms and not many large towns.
Another fun thing which you mentioned were line names like in London, because the Rotterdam metro actually had line names before they switched to the A-E format. The north-south line was called the "Erasmuslijn", while the east-west line was called the "Calandlijn". From what I know they stopped using the line names in 2010.
Living in Rotterdam for me definitely means switching transport mode a lot. I'll take a national train from Alexander to Centraal, transfer to a metro to Maashaven, then transfer to a tram to the football stadium.
I've been waiting for this one for a while!
im living in rotterdam currently and i love the system. very frequent service, and great interconnectivity with NS and trams.
3:03 That isn't Den Haag, you're pointing to Hoek van Holland. Den Haag is at the top of the screen
Yes my favorite
Hello! Could you do a video on the Tyne and Wear metro?
One of the really cool things about the Rotterdam/The Hague metro and tram service is that it's both relatively sparse but also super effective. Ridership is incredibly high and bounced back immediately after covid restrictions, showing that this is real demand that is very hard to destroy. In fact, increasing ridership is the main driver for new extensions and upgrades.
Without this system, the MRDH (metropolitan area of Rotterdam and The Hague) would be one big traffic infarction. These systems, along with the Fyra and regular NS rail system, make it so we can have regular roads and not-too-intrusive highways (The Hague has NO highways running through the city, just 2-lane and super-infrequent 4-lane roads, and it's got the highest population density of any city in the Netherlands and even Europe depending on how you count cities).
That's the good, but there is also plenty of bad. Connectivity in the Westland area is nonexistent, even though its greenhouse-heavy construction hides quite high population density. Connectivity in the greater The Hague area is also very one-sided, with radial lines being excellent but tangential transportation being mostly absent, so some extreme examples make you travel for an hour on the tram to get 1km across the city. The south of the Rotterdam harbor area is very poorly served, even though it is a major job center. And connectivity to Zeeland, even Hollands Zeeland, is very poor. And lots of other things to improve.
I had no idea I wanted to learn so much about transit until this guy came along. Now this is my favorite lunch pass-time.
It’s so cool how familiar all of these pictures are, I’ve used the metrosystem so often, it’s a great way to get around.
Great job once again! Would love to see a video covering Athens Metro in the near future!
I have lived in Rotterdam for almost a year now, and have never used the metro. I use my swapfiets. Thanks for this though. I'll probably use it more now!
You definitely should!
Of course your transport use heavily depends on where you have to go, if you can be there faster on a bike than with public transport the bike is the better option most of the time
@@schtormm yeah for sure. I live in Noord, so pretty central. But I was thinking more about the metro to The Hague. Compared to having to take NS, that’s a steal
@@oscarandria in price and convenience yes, but time-wise it takes a bit longer
@@schtormm true. But as a student, im in no rush haha
Love this video and the system! It really reminds me of a larger and improved version of Tyne and Wear metro (even thought of making a video suggestion about it to you), another fairly odd system which uses a lot of former (and it some sections even current) suburban heavy rail lines
It's weird to be that early...
Next Transit Explained: Boston, Munich U-Bahn, Seoul, Shanghai.
Munich U-Bahn was already explained.
Lots more videos to make, but not Munich!
The Rotterdam metro reminds me a lot of the Hannover stadtbahn system, I took it once and it felt pretty weird so it would be interesting to see an explainer about it
What do you want to be explained about it?
In Porto, Portugal, they converted the previous suburban line to Póvoa (a city 40 mins to the north) to a light rail.
And while this allowed to get a central section for the light rail for far cheaper (it also allowed for incresed connectivity, with a cross city line, because of the extension by tunel to the other side of the city, past the previous central terminus; and allowed for a modernization of the line which used to be a diesel single track line) it meant:
- the connection to the northern terminus city (previously served by rail) was not improved regarding time because the light rail has way more stops (many unnecessary on rural areas) [this was partially solved by introducing express services after much complaining by the population]
- made it impossible to extend the rail network arround Póvoa (the northern terminus) which has many interesting middle sized cities to connect to (including some old abandoned rail right of way preserved)
- Considering the heavy acess to central porto is very limited (the "central station" is not big enough, has no easy space to expand and is only served by a overused 2 track tunnel for suburban trains only, because of this the main station of the city for all services including long distance is very far from central Porto) it also took away valuable right of way and space for a bigger central station in central Porto for heavy rail 😐😐
Meanwhile it opened way for a cheaper start to the light rail that was a huge success and is seeing a lot of expansion which is, of course, great (the original lines suffer, in general, limitations due to cost savings in the first phase of the light rail, with too many street level sections, curvy alignments, saturation of the common trunk that doesn't allow for very needed increasing of frequency)
The Rotterdam metro is REALLY insane
the metro in rotterdam is one of my favorite public transports in the netherlands
6:55 The R-Net branding has been mostly superfluous as far as I know, outside of a unified livery it has only involved minor changes to scheduling to improve connections slightly between lines operated by the different companies.
It's basically just a marketing for supposedly higher quality than normal public transport lines that connect between the various cities in the Randstad.
8:03 the odd shape is because Zoetemeer was envisioned as an Commuter town or Bedroom community for The Hague, the rail line and road connections were build to allow easy commuting by its residents to The Hague.
The "Urban Train" was modeled on German S-Bahn and French RER systems, but outside of this one line the concept never really took off leaving it as a very unique heavy rail system until its conversion to light rail.
Great video, cool to see our network clearly explained. I have two additions, from someone who is living here since a few years:
There are currently a few ways to cross the river in the center of the city: a car/bike/bus tunnel, the Erasmus bridge for car/bike/trams, another bridge for car/bike and of course the E and D metro lines. There are serious plans to add a new crossing a bit to the east. The current plan is to make it a car bridge that maybe will also have trams, but a lot of people are in favor of a new metro tunnel instead, which likely will be more expensive but requires less space. This would connect Zuidplein (E/D line in the south) with Kralingse Zoom (A/B/C line in the east), forming a sort of triangle.
Other than that, there have been proponents and various designs to introduce a circle line, but that doesn't have much traction yet as it would be pretty expensive and that money is currently better spend by expanding or adding branches.
Also there are a few water taxis to cross the Nieuwe Maas.
Let’s go when I saw the SG 3 metro in the thumbnail I was already hyped
Also: weirdly enough the main central station isn't where all the lines converge, it's Beurs station which is a very loooooooong station in the center (shopping and business district)
It used to be possible to land in Hoek (known in English as Hook of Holland) from the UK and get on a train to anywhere in Europe. Now you just end up on the Rotterdam metro.
The so called boat train stopped running since 2017
@@markdebruyn1212 Exactly. Yet another backward step in sustainable connectivity in Europe. It used to be possible to make seamless train-ferry-train connections in Dover, Calais, Ostend, Hoek etc and the infrastructure and the connections have just about all disappeared (Harwich and Holyhead clinging on)
@@jack2453 Sorry, i that tran actually stopped running in 2007
What is probably one of the best things about the RET metro is how insanely reliable it is. Currently there are some issues with the NS (lack of personnel almost in every layer of the organisation), and I have had the unpleasant surprise of rail maintenance (ie no trains), broken trains, accidents etc. more than once. Well, literally never on the metro, I have always been able to take the metro (within service hours obv) and my mother has taken the metro for most of her working life almost daily, we have had to pick her up only once because of some major accident.
So cool to actually see a video about a system that I use at least a couple of times every week!
I live on the E line right between Den Haag C and Rotterdam C. It's great. Metro one way to take me to my office in Den Haag, metro the other way for friends, family and fun. I grew up near (a different stretch of) our metro, and I never would have moved here if the metro hadn't been extended. It's my favorite local from of transit
Fun fact: the tram to Zoetermeer also was a suburban heavy rail service.
There are actually some plans to expand the metro network with a completely new line.
This new line should run between Kralingse Zoom on the east-west trunk to Zuidplein on the north-south trunk.
A new tunnel or bridge over the Nieuwe Maas is discussed, to improve connection between the east and south of the city.
However, the debate on this line is still going, and there are also plans to build just a tram line to save costs.
The metro on this portion is definitely needed as it is part of the future ring line, if it ever comes to exist
Din't they also wanted to built a line to Lombardijen at one point
Awesome video! Has there been a video on any Portuguese metro system?
Not yet!
Currently the Portuguese systems don't really stand out, there are loads of much more interesting transit systems. The good news is that there are plans for expansion that would/will change that. Lisbon getting extensions to the metro, 3 new light rail lines, lot's of upgrades to the suburban railway and potentially a new line, new interfaces... if these things get built then it will become a really interesting transit network.
I love the bit between Schiedam and Vlaardingen that also accommodates freight trains. at 2 stations there are switches to move the freight trains not on a completely different track but one with the same gauge but about a foot to the side to clear the stations.
4:05 The naming convention was different, lines D and C were called the "Calandlijn" and "Erasmuslijn". Most likely the all have names like that still, just not on the maps which is how it used to be. My guess is that Rotterdam has gotten a bit more focused on tourism
They where clearly inspired by the New York City Subway
The line to the beach isn’t fully operational just yet. It has been terminating at the ferry terminal (Hoek van Holland Haven) since that opened a few years ago, but the final stretch was only just recently confirmed to be opening on March 31.
I live on the Hoekse Line, my house is actually in the video hahah.
In a way it's certainly an improvement, but I feel like NS could've done the same thing if they'd have gotten the money to do so. (which wouldn't have cost as much money, probably, and also wouldn't have resulted in years without services on this line, like happened here)
This conversion has made running cargo trains passed Vlaardingen Oost completely impossible. A shame for a region with a lot of ports and logistics companies that now can no longer switch from road to rail transport. Congestion is already a huge problem, and this will not help.
It has also made it impossible to run high capacity trains, like long 12 carriage double deckers like NS used to do on hot summer days and when there were large events happening, we now have to hope increased frequency will be able to carry that same amount of people. The new beach station will only open at the end of this month, so we'll see (the old beach station was relatively far from the actual beach).
Lastly, Schiedam Centrum is an Intercity station, but it's not a national railway hub. The Hoekse Line mainline service ran to Rotterdam Central Station, but the metro does not, meaning that the connection to one of the biggest national railway hubs is now a bit clunky, and especially from Vlaardingen and Schiedam Nieuwland the extra transfer means a relatively big increase in door-to-door travel time. The transfers in Schiedam also aren't as well coordinated as they used to be, when you changed from NS to NS across the platform. Travel time between Schiedam Centrum and Vlaardingen Centrum is and was 7 minutes (no improvement) but I now have to sometimes wait longer that that just to change! In the past the trains waited for each other across the platform, allowing for 0 transfer time.
The Hoekse Line was different to the other conversions, like the Zoetermeer Line and Hofplein Line (RandstadRail) and a lot of those differences were also strengths, in my opinion.
In short: I like the face-lift the stations have received and the increased frequency, particularly on Sundays, but I feel like a lot of benefits of mainline rail have been lost, pretty much forever.
in my first visit to amsterdam in 2012 i rode the stena line and got off at hoek van holland. i think my love of everything dutch started there - i actually made a point to stop in rotterdam for a few hours.
I love seeing this! (Even before I've actually watched it). It's my favourite system in the Netherlands, can't wait for the Hoek van Holland Strand extension to finally open this summer 😍
I've got good news for you. You won't have to wait until this summer. The new extension will be taken into service at March 31st!
IM GONNA GO TO HOEK VAN HOLLAND BEACH LETS GOOOOOOO
Can you make a video on the Brussels transit system next?
Great video! Please do a video on the Doha metro!
amazing video as always, at some point I would love to see you do a video on the Klang Valley Integrated Transit in Malaysia! :D
Send me an email if you’re located in the area!
Could you do an update on the Toronto King Street transit priority corridor? What the more perminant plans are for it and maybe talk about the poor state of repair the temporary measures are in right now? I remember people being excited about it but its fallen apart and kind of being forgotten which is a real shame!
Could you do a video on the Buenos Aires Subte. The system is large, cheap, and highly diverse (Trains, trams, commuter rail, BRT). Their bus system is a marvel of efficiency and the interconnectivity of each mode is amazing.
I have to travel with the Rotterdam metro every day and while it's not terrible, it's not great. There have been a lot of issues in recent years, such as months-long maintenance work and lack of staff, impacting services. The green line wasn't fully in use from September 2022 until literally this month, which meant that the metros that *were* in use were extremely busy during peak hours. The Rotterdam-The Hague line was also an absolute nightmare when I had to use it in 2019, when you'd be squeezed into the carriages along with the hundreds of other passengers like sweaty, smelly sardines. Things are better NOW, but as a daily commuter, it also has its downsides.
i love your videos❤️ have you planned to do one for cologne?
Dutch freight train driver here, we also use the metro line on a small piece of track to get to a freight terminal. From Schiedam we get on the metro line to Vlaardingen.
Youvforgot to mention the section of track where freight trains occaisionally run along the metroline.
Dutch metro lines are strangely similar to Japanese suburban rail lines