According to Peter Snijders, chairman of the Zwolle Region partnership, which also includes Meppel and Hoogeveen, there is another important argument: housing construction.
Quite apart from the 220,000 extra homes that the north has offered to the cabinet together with Flevoland in exchange for faster existing rail, the Lelylijn and the Lower Saxony line, according to Snijders, who is also mayor of Zwolle, there is already work to be done: “Zwolle is going to build 42,000 more homes in the coming years. That is not only possible in the Zwolle area. That will also have to be partly at Hoogeveen, Meppel and Staphorst. Then public transport must be good, fast and reliable.”
Today a number of members of the Senate and House of Representatives came to Meppel to discuss the plans and wishes of the local and regional authorities. To make clear the desired short-term solution, they were all given virtual reality glasses, which enabled them to view the possible future through the eyes of a train driver. Level level crossings have been replaced by level crossings and Meppel station has been expanded with a fourth platform.