Gooilijn

The Gooilijn is a railway line in the Netherlands running from Amsterdam to Amersfoort.

History

The line dates back to 1874, when it was opened. Towns served by this railway line include Weesp, Bussum, Hilversum and Baarn. The line is part of the grater railway line, the Oosterspoorweg, which runs from Amsterdam to Amersfoort, and on to Apeldoorn, Zutphen and Winterswijk.

The Line

The line starts at Amsterdam Centraal. From here there are 6 tracks until just before Amsterdam Muiderpoort station, here two tracks branch off towards Utrecht Centraal, this is the Rhijnspoorweg. There two tracks use another part of Muiderpoort station. On the Gooilijn at Muiderpoort there are 8 tracks towards Weesp. Just two of these lines are for trains calling at the station. Soon after it goes back to 6 tracks, here it crosses the Ringvaart. 500 metres east of the station is the entrance to Watergraafsmeer rail depot, this is also the point where the bridge to Schiphol for freight is.

At this point the line goes to two tracks. The view of the depot is not perfect from the railway. At the end of the depot the railway goes over the A10 ring road of Amsterdam. At Diemem station there is a short section of 3 track railway, this stays as 3 tracks until just before Gaasperdammerweg Junction, before this point there is a single track line coming from Watergraafsmeer depot.

The railway line crosses the river Diem, then it becomes a 4 track railway, with two tracks joining from Schiphol. Once the lines have all joined, the line continues as a 6 track section, crossing the A9. It then becomes a 4 track section, crossing the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal with two large bridges side-by-side.

On the approaches of Weesp, an extra two tracks exist so that there are 6 tracks, with two tracks through the middle for passing trains. This is where passengers to Almere and Lelytad, Hilversum and Amersfoort, Amsterdam and Diemen and Schiphol and Duivendrecht would all change for destinations not served by their train. It reduces back to 4 tracks and then 2km south of Weesp, the line splits, with the Flevolijn having two tracks branch off, where the line goes to Almere Centrum and Lelystad Centrum. The main line continues as a 2 track section. The Gooiboog then joins on not far from the other Almere line.

The next station is Naarden-Bussum, which has four tracks, with an 2 platforms, as an island platform. The two lines on the outside are just passing lines. The line then returns to 2 tracks until Hilversum.

The next station is Bussum Zuid, which is a simple 2 track station, with two platforms opposite each other. After the station, is the freight carriage works of Crailoo.

The next station is Hilversum Noord, again a simple 2 track station, with two platforms opposite each other.

The next station is Hilversum, which is the main station between Amsterdam Centraal and Amersfoort. Here there are 5 tracks, the last 2 of which had platforms, which were finished in December 2007, to accomodate the Intercity trains. Immediately after the station is the junction with the line to Utrecht. This line goes directly to Utrecht Lunetten, but the passenger services running via Utrecht Centraal. The line continues as a 2 track section again.

The next station is Baarn, which has 3 tracks. This station layout will be change in December 2008, to 3 through tracks and 1 terminating from Soest direction. This continues as 3 tracks for about 400m until the Stichtse Lijn branches off to Soest and Utrecht.

Then the line continues as a double track section until approaching Amersfoort. Then comes the yards of Amersfoort on both sides of the line. Then the main line joins the Centraalspoorweg from Utrecht. The station has 10 tracks in total, consisting of 3 large island platforms. There is 1 passing line within the platforms and with 3 passing tracks at the northern part of the station. Access to the Leusden line is from platforms 1 and 2. The original Amersfoort line is just 200m from the station by train. The station building is the only remnent of this.