Transport in the Netherlands
The Netherlands is both a very densely populated and a highly developed country in which transport is a key factor of the economy.
Correspondingly it has a very dense and modern infrastructure, facilitating transport with road, rail, air and water networks.
[3] The Dutch also have a well developed railway network, that connects most towns and cities, as well as a comprehensive dedicated cycling infrastructure, featuring some 35,000 km of track physically segregated from motorised traffic.
On the roads it has grown continuously since the 1950s and now exceeds 200 billion km travelled per year,[7] three quarters of which are done by car.
[10] In 2010, 1.65 billion tons of goods traffic was registered, half of which moved by sea and inland shipping, and 40% by road transport.
The high population density generates significant traffic volumes on both motorways and regular highways.
The number of passing motor vehicles is counted every minute of the day at some 20,000 measuring stations on the Dutch motorway network.
[16] A special feature of the motorways is the use of Porous Asphalt Concrete, which reduces noise levels, and allows rain water to be drained efficiently, for safety and expedient traffic flow under precipitation.
Since the start of the 21st century, parking spaces for 450,000 bicycles were built and modernized at over 400 train stations, and Dutch railways organizations ProRail and NS are calling for an expansion by another 250,000 by 2027.
[29] The network is mostly focused on passenger transport [30] and connects almost all major towns and cities, counting just over 400 train stations,[27] more than there are municipalities in the Netherlands.
The national rail infrastructure is managed by public task company ProRail, and a number of different operators have concessions to run their trains.
[28] Public passenger rail transport is operated mainly by Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) (Dutch Railways); minor parts by Arriva, Keolis Nederland, Connexxion, Breng, DB Regio, NMBS, Veolia[31] and DB Regionalbahn Westfalen.
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.
[34] Per kilometre of track, the Dutch rail network is the busiest in the European Union,[30] handling over a million passengers a day.
[28] 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.
Utrecht has its own light rail system, called fast tram, connecting the city with adjacent Nieuwegein and IJsselstein.
Due to the large amount of waterways in the Netherlands, not every road connection has been bridged, and there are still some ferries in operation.
[37] Public transport operators are both the public transport companies run by the local government of the cities: GVB (Amsterdam), RET (Rotterdam) and HTM (The Hague), as well as private enterprise companies like Arriva, Connexxion, Qbuzz and Keolis Nederland.
[38] This makes Schiphol one of the world's busiest airports, on average handling 57 starts and landings per hour on one of its six runways, and thus frequently exceeding levels of over one aircraft movement per minute.
[nb 6] The airport also serves as a European hub for Delta Air Lines,[40] and as a base for EasyJet and Vueling airlines.
[5] Through the rivers Rhine and Meuse, Rotterdam has excellent access to its hinterland upstream, reaching to Germany, France and Switzerland.
The harbour functions as an important transit point for bulk materials and between the European continent and overseas.
Besides Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Zeeland, the ports of Moerdijk and Vlaardingen also support container liner shipping.
[49] Other notable port cities are Dordrecht, Haarlem and Den Helder, as well as Groningen, which controls the seaports of Delfzijl and Eemshaven.
[6] All in all the Netherlands has so many waterways that virtually all major industrial areas and population centres can be reached by water via inland ports (200) and transhipment terminals (350).
[54] A technical investigation has concluded that the existing Dutch high-pressure gas infrastructure could feasibly be converted for transport of hydrogen in the future.
[55] The Netherlands has a well-developed pipeline network essential for transporting natural gas, oil, chemicals, and CO2.
These 14 parties are united in a cooperation called "DOVA" (Decentrale Openbaar Vervoer Autoriteiten), or "Decentralised Public Transport Authorities".
In 2012 the Dutch goods transport and storage sectors by themselves accounted for almost 400,000 full-time jobs, employing some 500,000 people.
