Arriva Nederland

The diesel lines in the north of The Netherlands - radiating from Groningen and Leeuwarden - have always been considered special. Traffic was never high enough for electrification, if fact NS has been searching for a way to operate these lines in a cheaper way.

In the 1980s dedicated low-cost rolling stock was ordered for these lines, the so-called Wadloper  diesel motor cars and 2-car DMUs. These have operated much of the trains, although in recent years traffic grew such that also older DMUs Plan U/class 110 and modern DMUs DM'90/class 3400 appeared in the North. In July 2007 the last "Wadloper" was withdrawn and most services are now operated by the new GTW trainsets.

In May 1999 a new private railway company known as Noordned took over the operation of the diesel lines radiating from Leeuwarden. One year later, Noordned also took over the operation of the diesel lines radiating from Groningen from NS Reizingers. They now operate passenger services on the following lines:

• Leeuwarden - Harlingen Haven
• Leeuwarden - Sneek - Stavoren
• Leeuwarden - Groningen
• Groningen - Roodeschool
• Groningen - Delfzijl
• Groningen - Winschoten - Nieuweschans

All lines have a train every 30 minutes, except for Sneek-Stavoren, Groningen-Roodeschool and Winschoten-Nieuweschans that only have an hourly train. Additional trains run during rush hours, Groningen-Leeuwarden even has an hourly express train with only one intermediate stop.

Already some time ago Arriva acquired a majority in Noordned. In December 2005 the name was officially changed to Arriva Nederland.

In December 2006 Arriva took over the operation of local passenger trains on Dordrecht-Geldermalsen. For the time being with hired electric trainsets from NS, but new electric trainsets from Stadler have now entered service. Two trains per hour operate the entire length of the line.

Website of Arriva: www.arriva.nl

Trainsets and motor cars
	GTW2/6 Spurt
	GTW2/8 Spurt
	EGTW2/6 Spurt
	EGTW2/8 Spurt

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