Participants who believe that the Lely line should not become too expensive often reasoned this as unfair if the costs of the rail connection were closely examined in the decision-making process. They believe that in the past a lot of money was spent on projects in the Randstad such as the North/South line and the High-speed line Schiphol-Antwerp and it is now the North’s turn. Especially since the rest of the country has benefited greatly from the natural gas revenues, while the North has mainly borne the burden.
King’s Commissioner in Groningen René Paas is pleased with the results of the investigation. “We can move on with this.” Apart from the high number of people who do like the railway line, Paas is particularly concerned that “now the Netherlands is seen more as a whole than at the beginning of this cabinet term. The Hague administrators have too often and for too long wanted to solve problems in and with the Randstad.” Paas’s call is clear: here in the north we can solve a number of problems, in exchange for it.
The CdK of Groningen also said that it quickly despises that the cabinet will soon announce the rest of the money for the Lely line. Wishful thinking. State Secretary Vivianne Heijen: 3 billion has been reserved for the Lely line. That is indeed not nearly enough. But it is an incredibly large amount for something that the real research has yet to start.” Yes, the Lely line is really in the eye of the cabinet. No, no money will be added for the time being, you hear between the lines.
In the third part of the consultation, participants could indicate what they see as the main advantages and disadvantages of the Lely line, what opportunities they see and what concerns they have. The nuisance caused by the Lely line is number one: 510 participants indicated this. The fact that costs are higher than budgeted, local residents are experiencing noise nuisance, the railway is causing landscape pollution and people may be coming to the North who cause nuisance, were also mentioned as pain points.
The study, commissioned by the Ministry of Infrastructure & Water Management and the northern provinces, was not intended to measure how many supporters and opponents of the Lely line. State Secretary Vivianne Heijen thinks that 80 percent of the participants for the construction of the Lely Line can only be very good news.
920 Drents participated in the citizens’ consultation. According to Mouter, they don’t think differently about the Lely line either.
The citizens’ consultation was also not about which transport company should run on the new rail link. In theory, the NS could do that, because the new intercity trains that the carrier is currently having built can run at 200 kilometers per hour. According to Heijnen, a so-called ‘preference decision’ must be made in the second half of 2024 about whether and how the Lely line can be built.