After many years we succeeded. All unguarded level crossings in Drenthe are gone. The last unguarded level crossing at Coevorden on the Emmen – Zwolle railway line has been replaced by a diversion road so that a homeowner no longer has to make the life-threatening crossing over the railway.
In Dalfsen, two unguarded level crossings at farmers’ homes will be replaced this weekend with tunnels for cows.
With the removal of the last three unguarded level crossings on the Emmen – Zwolle railway line, the whole of Drenthe has now been freed from (publicly accessible) unguarded level crossings. They have all disappeared on the Groningen – Assen – Zwolle and Leeuwarden – Meppel railway lines.
Between 2020 and 2021, after years of delays and futile attempts to remove a number of level crossings between Assen and Meppel, everything suddenly accelerated after a serious train accident with a fatal outcome and an accident involving a local resident on a level crossing.
In Hooghalen, a slow train collided at full speed with a tractor with a fully loaded dump truck at an unguarded level crossing. The cabin of the train was completely shattered and the driver from Hardenberg was killed instantly. Then suddenly, under pressure, a solution emerged for two unguarded level crossings that were close to each other.
And after 17 years of struggle with a resident of an unguarded level crossing in Wijster, the family finally moved after the wife of the family died on the level crossing. After the move, the level crossing was removed and the buildings were demolished.
In recent years, 14 unguarded level crossings have been removed on the Assen – Meppel and Emmen – Zwolle railway lines. That was a long-term process, says project leader Bernadette Paping of ProRail, because no two unguarded level crossings were the same. Sometimes it was the only house connection, then again a farm level crossing, then again it was the ProRail level crossing, but not the road to it. Or landowners did not want to cooperate with diversion roads.
This all resulted in the necessary customization and out of the box solutions. In Hooghalen, a 3 km long road was built across the farmers’ land to the next guarded level crossing to replace two level crossings. A similar solution was also found for the life-threatening level crossing in a raised area near a family’s house near Holsloot. In New Amsterdam, homeowners used money from ProRail to build their own road so that their level crossing could also be closed. For a number of local residents, this did not mean moving, but a different address, which meant a lot of arranging work.
In the Overijssel section of the Emmen – Zwolle railway line, a complete pedestrian bridge was built near Vilsteren to replace a level crossing.
After the accidents of 2020 and 2021, ProRail also closed a number of level crossings near Hoogeveen without consultation, with the argument: we have now experienced a few times that after years of talking and searching we almost came to a solution and then just before the final solution there is a fatal accident.
The last two near Dalfsen, on the railway line to Emmen, were also difficult. There, two farmers and a castle steward ended up in a long-term conflict with ProRail. They wanted to keep the crossings for their cattle and tractors. A lawsuit was involved. Ultimately, a solution was found: the level crossings were closed and the two farmers each had a tunnel for the cows. The tunnels will be constructed this weekend. “Trains can run again on Monday, and in the spring the first cows can frolic through the tunnel, says Paping.”