A large majority of the House of Representatives voted against the wishes of the cabinet on Thursday to an amendment to tackle the rail bottleneck at Meppel for 35 million euros.
The trains from all over the Northern Netherlands are stopped for an average of nine hours a week due to congestion in the ‘bottleneck’ near Meppel. It is the only rail connection between the North and the rest of the Netherlands that is used by 75,000 train passengers every day, and that number is increasing.
By constructing a new track and platform, delays should be reduced and trains can run more often.
The amendment by VVD MP Fahid Minhas and D66 MP Lisa van Ginneken could count on the support of almost the entire House; only the PVV and Groep Van Haga voted against. Minister Mark Harbers of Infrastructure and Water Management (VVD) and State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen (CDA) for railways have been forced to implement the amendment. A spokesperson says that the ministry will discuss this with Prorail.
Aqueduct Leeuwarden and Lower Saxony line
The House also approved amendments to allocate 75 million euros for an aqueduct under the Van Harinxma Canal near Leeuwarden and 2.5 million euros for the rail yard in the Frisian capital.
The House also approved an amendment by ChristenUnie MP Stieneke van der Graaf to allocate half a million euros for a so-called MIRT study into the Lower Saxony line from Stadskanaal to Emmen. There is a broad wish in parliament to build the entire line from Veendam to Emmen, creating a direct connection from Groningen to Twente. This was requested in motions by Van der Graaf last Tuesday, but no money was attached to it yet.
Tuesday’s motions and Thursday’s amendments stem from a debate between the ministers for transport and the House of Representatives about the distribution of 7.5 billion euros for transport. Relatively speaking, only a small part of that money ends up in the Northern Netherlands, about 4 percent.
Too few housing plans
Northern administrators protested against this and the House of Representatives turned out to be sensitive to this. A factor in this is that, in the eyes of parliament, the North is entitled to a larger share of the government’s investments. The ministry stated that the North had relatively few housing plans, and the 7.5 billion was intended to open up residential areas.
The MPs will get the extra money for the northern railway plans from a reservation for the Blankenburgtunnel and VIA15 in the Rijnmond. Toll would first be levied there until the year 2030. But after that year, ‘pay according to use’ will be introduced throughout the Netherlands, so that the reservation would no longer be necessary. However, Minister Harbers stated that he still needed the money for road pricing.