Arriva wants to run a daily train between Groningen and Paris from 2026. Will Gerbers of the Rover Drenthe travel association is pleasantly surprised by the announcement.
“I think it’s a great plan, provided it stops in Assen,” she says. That is not Arriva’s intention. The idea is to have the train stop at Zwolle, Almere, Amsterdam South, Schiphol Airport, Rotterdam Central, Antwerp Central and Brussels South. “Every train that passes through Drenthe should in any case stop in our capital,” says Gerbers. She says she will try to get it done for this connection. “We always do.”
The train departs from Groningen at 05:30 and arrives at Gare du Nord in Paris around 10:40. The train departs from Paris again at 7:15 PM, arriving in Groningen around 12:30 AM.
“We would of course prefer to visit every station. We weigh up the travel time,” an Arriva spokesperson responds.
The train may not stop in Drenthe, but the passenger association is positive about the plan. Gerbers: “The more train connections via Drenthe the better, and the fewer flights over this kind of short distances, the better. If the train stops in Assen, I will certainly use it.”
Arriva has submitted an application for its plan to the Authority for Consumers and Markets. In the future, Arriva wants to make more requests for train traffic from various Dutch regions to, for example, Belgian and French cities.