RijnGouweLijn

The RijnGouweLijn ( _en. The Rhine-Gouwe Line) or RGL is a light rail project in South Holland, Netherlands.

It will be the first system in the Netherlands where light rail vehicles will partly use heavy rail tracks, sharing these tracks with heavy rail trains, like the tram-train systems around Karlsruhe and Saarbrücken, Germany.

This shared track is from Gouda through Alphen aan den Rijn to Leiden. The existing heavy rail track will be adapted and there will be seven additional stops.

For Leiden the plan was to have new track through the center (Breestraat) at street level (alternatives that have been proposed were around the center on existing track, or in a tunnel through the center). The province of South Holland is in favor of this, but based on a referendum in March 2007 among the Leiden population, the municipality is against it. The province has forced the municipality to accept a trajectory through Leiden. Province and municipality have now agreed that this will be the route Hooigracht/Langegracht.

The proposed line passes through Leiden Centraal railway station and then proceeds on new track to Katwijk with a branch to Noordwijk.

The light-rail vehicles used are of type Flexity Swift, produced by Bombardier Transportation in Vienna. The LRVs were originally meant for SL (lines 12 & 22) in Stockholm, Sweden (hence the usage of the designation A32).

To start with they are used in the regular railway service between Gouda and Alphen aan den Rijn. The stations have been adapted: new low level platforms have been added eitheras extensions to existing high level platforms or by building them on the opposite side of the track tothe high level platforms.

A disadvantage of the new vehicles, compared with trains, is that they have no toilet. There is also nofirst class accommodation. An advantage is that they offer a forward view through a window behind the driver's cab.

ee also

*Gouda
*Alphen aan den Rijn
*Leiden
*Katwijk
*RandstadRail

External links

* [http://www.rijngouwelijn.nl/ Official website] (Dutch, with summary in English).