The trains with which Arriva wants to run between Groningen and Zwolle may come from Limburg. The rail transport company has eleven trains ‘over’. These are now parked elsewhere and there is a price tag. The province of Limburg wants to get rid of this.
These are trains that should initially already have to run on the Maas line, the rail connection between Roermond and Nijmegen. Due to delays it certainly takes until 2027 to electrify the Maas line and partly double.
It is being investigated whether the now stagnant Limburg trains in the north of the country can run, reports the Limburg representative Jasper Kunzelaers (PvdA). According to him, that can potentially save millions of euros in parking costs. “It would be fantastic if so.”
Nine out of eleven new electric train sets are now stored abroad, said Kunzelaers. According to the driver, it costs more than 22 million euros to park the devices until 2027 and Limburg pays half of them.
Arriva recently received permission to have a train run on the route between Groningen and Zwolle every hour from mid -December during the week. This is in addition to the slow trains and intercity’s of NS that are already driving. Arriva’s trains stop at Groningen Europapark, Assen, Hoogeveen and Meppel.
In a response, Arriva reports that all options are viewed to get the new timetable in order quickly. “The province itself went to philosophize,” says a spokeswoman. “But we do love this creative way of thinking.”