Rotterdam metro driver here.. Great video with no false information. I wanted to add one thing about our Future plans; there are many (almost mandatory, because of the population growth) routes on schedule, but no one wants to pay for it. Glad you sorted out everything, so now people from all over the world can enjoy our beautiful system! 😃
One of the things with the metro conversions of suburban rail in the Netherlands is that most of these rail lines have long operated as effectively isolated lines in the network. It was many decades since the last international trains went to Hoek van Holland, and the Zoetermeer/Hofplein railways routed basically exclusively into Den Haag Centraal. Under these circumstances it made basically no sense to keep them as railway and the change to metro/light rail was a huge upgrade.
The Sodner Bahn, which connects Frankfurt-Höchst and Bad Soden with each other, also is in a similar position: It's a shuttle between both stations and is fairly limited in scope but plans exist to integrate it into the U-Bahn network which extends it further south (this also had to be done anyway as the line will have a branch to Eschborn installed as part of an orbital line).
@@2712animefreak I really mean the U-Bahn: The terminus of Praunheim will be expanded westwards, making a connection to Höchst over Eschborn which in turn uses part of the Sodner Bahn. Look up the Regiontangente West to see what I mean.
@@RMTransit hi thanks for the great content, I'm from Hoek van Holland, small issue, den Hague is not where you put the label on the map, it's further north up the coast. Where you put the label is the greenhouse area of the Westland, forgivable because it all looks like a city and one village joins into another. Have a great day
As a transport planner in The Hague, you forgot the main advantage of the conversion: usage! Ridership boomed after the conversion to metro (or tram-train for Zoetermeer). Turns out having a direct connection through the city center and a higher frequency is more important to users than the advantages of mainline trains. Also fun fact: there are freight trains using a small portion of the Rotterdam metro network (in Vlaardingen). These use the old conmections to the port from when it was a mainline railway.
These freight trains are wider than metro trains. Thus, they have a special track that sits about half a metre further away from the platforms, the end of which can be seen at 9:16
What should be noted is that the Dutch public transit network (especially in the Randstad) is truly a network. What you don't see is how the entire national passenger rail network ties into these networks, and how this is bolstered by excellent walkability and bikeability.
Cries in Hellevoetsluis', still have to watch the majority of the video, maybe he mentions it later, but the end point in Spijkenisse has been left open since (where those carts crashed on whales when the breaks didn't work, some 5 year ago. But unlike the initial plan of growing to ~120,000/150,000, we grew to around 50,000 and to many people it's pretty useless to finish it. Their excuse is; " It would bring a lot more crime..." > I'm 44 and have been reading about this plan on and off for my whole life. As a child, there was a still a tourist tram here, which used to be a direct line from a ferry here, to the South of Rotterdam (Rosenstraat). That line went through Spijkenisse, so at least now we got a sort of straight cycle path out of it, lol. But when you look at the map, the best location would be Halfweg II, the edge of Spijk. Make a big (Free) parking lot and station, people from Brielle, Oostvoorne, Hellevoet and even from the island Goerree, would take the metro there. With bus and metro it's really not that appealing when you also have to take another form of transit when you get of the metro. Sometimes it's better to drive to Slinge, park there for free and then hop on.
4:18 Before the end of 2009 they actually had names similar to London, with the north-south line being Erasmuslijn and the eas-west line being Callandlijn (the portion to Den Haag was not connceted to the rest by then). It turned out that especially tourists, but also natives, found it very confusing, so they decided to give each branch its own letter.
Welll… Lets just say that Dutch people are very active on RUclips and love to see stuff about their own country, which is why I’m not surprised at all that this was recommended a lot😂 (I’m from the Netherlands as well so I know)
One more quirky part of the metro is on the line to Hoek van Holland between Schiedam and Vlaardingen. Here the former railway, now metro tracks are still used by mainline freight trains during the night when there are no metro services. They had to create a solution with the track as seen at 9:15 at 2 station to fit the wider freight trains into the loading gauge of the metro.
The two trunk lines of the Rotterdam Metro System were named Noord-Zuidlijn and Oost-Westlijn, and later renamed to Erasmuslijn and Calandlijn in 1997. The current system of letters and colours were introduced because it was confusing for non-locals.
Even more so confusing when both lines were tied together at Spijkenisse, because how can you have a Western most branch that meets up with the Southern most branch? So they dropped the names and colours (red and blue), and gave them all their own letter and colour.
As someone from Zoetermeer who has lived in The Hague and Rotterdam, I still find it confusing when they say "richting De Akkers" or something. How am I supposed to know where that is? Aren't there akkers everywhere? 🤣 It would have always seemed more logical for me to say "westbound" or "eastbound" or something.
@@Bianca_Toeps Exactly! It has been a pet peeve of mine, how unclear the routes and directions are when you're standing on the platform itself. Unless you're experienced, it's just confusing. They could learn from Budapest, where they list the stations the rail line will go to, visible from the platform, behind where the metro stops.
Shenzhen's metro also originally named its lines but later changed them to numbers e.g. _LuoBao_ (罗宝/羅寶) line is a portmaneau of _Luohu_ (罗/羅湖) & _Baoan_ (宝/寶安), 2 of the districts served by the line, but it's now known as Line 1. On the other hand Japan's subways/metros are still sticking to their lines' names, but their meanings can be more transparent than you think e.g. _Fukutoshin_ (副都心)- "auxiliary metropolis centre", _Tozai_ (東/东西) - "east west". Singapore's also sticking to naming its lines but there came a time where it was probably running out of names to give, hence we get the generically named Downtown Line (I would've called it the _Bukit_ ('hill/mountain' in Malay) Line as it serves *_Bukit_*_ Panjang_ town, *_Bukit_*_ Timah_ region & _Kaki _*_Bukit_* neighbourhood)
@@Bianca_Toeps Metrostation Berkel Westpolderhas the words Noordwaarts and Zuidwaarts (Northbound and Southbound) from outside visible to the respective platforms.
When I visited Rotterdam and took the metro, I was very confused seeing catenary after getting of the train, as I clearly remember having seen 3rd rail at the station when getting on the train
Seeing a train doing a conversion from the 3rd rail to overhead wire while being in motion is one of those things that never get old to me. You can see this happen at Station Capelsebrug. That or at Schiedam Nieuweland 6:12
I suggest to take a look to Den Hague Central station. Beside Rotterdam metro terminal station, inside the hall an elevated tram track passes by with a stop to interchange with rails and metro. Very peculiar and interesting design
The weird thing is that the whole expensive metro terminus thingy was built atop Den Haag Centraal to free up tracks 11 and 12 under pressure from NS/Prorail. Which promptly neglected to do anything with the tracks for the next ten years or so. They're only just getting upgraded.
As someone who live in between The Hague and Rotterdam, I like the metro a lot. I go to my study in Rotterdam everyday with this metro and I can tell you there are barely any delays. If you go before 8:30 am you will have to stand in the metro but it’s not that bad. I also like that you visited my village which seems like such a weird thing for a non-Dutchy to come there. I like these metros a lot and now I can easily travel to Rotterdam without spending a lot of time. Which also helps for students is that we have ‘studentenov’ which means in workdays the whole infrastructure system will be free, this is actually amazing it saves me thousands of bucks each year. It’s an easy way to travel to friends who live there and you can tell im really positive about this metro.
Hey! The Hague (mentioned at 2:47) is up north from what you showed in the video. You actually showed "Westland" a big agricultural logistics and production hub of vegetables and flowers/plants in greenhouses. They should be linked up with a metro to The Hague and Rotterdam as there're only bus routes that take ages to get you to The Hague and Rotterdam. The extension of line B between Hoek van Holland and Schiedam suffered major budget and planning overruns and they're now in the final phase of completion as the extension from Hoek van Holland Haven (port) to Hoek van Holland Strand (beach). The metro literally halts at only 100 meters from the beach and they had to engineer tracks that didn't suffer from sand accumulation. This is a new section instead of a converted section and they're planning to open it to the public in the coming weeks. The former national railway line has a rich history. It served major international trains connecting Great Brittain via ferry and Europe via the Orient Express, Scandinavian Express and Rheingold Express.
as someone who grew up in suburban USA, living in Rotterdam is amazing, theres literally every type of public transit available with the buses, trams, metro, trains, and even ferries, I use the metro nearly every day so its nice to see it appreciated, and to remind myself I'm lucky to live in a place with such reliable frequent public transit!
Funny that your first clip of R'dam metro was at Den Haag NOI! They really are twin cities. I live on that line and great service, because of the interlining better service than I ever had in NYC. P.S. you left out the fact that R'dam is so much better than A'dam! P.S.S. the different brands are actually different operators with different ownership schemes.
@@connorcrowley1 No no I didn't mean that you aren't a local. Just that I couldn't figure out from the name. If you were like Kees Boerman I probably would not have commented
What is probably one of the best things about the RET metro is how insanely reliable it is. Currently there are some issues with the NS (lack of personnel almost in every layer of the organisation), and I have had the unpleasant surprise of rail maintenance (ie no trains), broken trains, accidents etc. more than once. Well, literally never on the metro, I have always been able to take the metro (within service hours obv) and my mother has taken the metro for most of her working life almost daily, we have had to pick her up only once because of some major accident.
Also: weirdly enough the main central station isn't where all the lines converge, it's Beurs station which is a very loooooooong station in the center (shopping and business district)
OMG I am so happy that you made a video about the Rotterdam metro! I use this metro almost every day. Btw, there might be an extension of the metro network coming soon, as there are plans for another north-south line, connecting the current north-south line directly to the more eastern part of the west-east tunnel. However, it is more likely that this will become a tram line.
Hi Khan, sorry to say that option has been scrapped. It will be another tramline along the strevelsweg across the new bridge to Kralingse Zoom. Main cause was the cost of course of a new metro tunnel (and the scrapping of the new stadium).
@@maartenbaas8513 as far as I know the final decision hasn't been made yet. But yeah, it's 99% surely gonna be another tram line, even though the city council wanted a metro :/ (thx national government)
A small addition on "De Hoekse lijn" is that that track is also used by freight trains. In the video at 6:12 you show one of the stations where a 3rd rail is visible, That rail is part of the "solution" so freight trains can pass the stations, since the Metro has another format than the regular freight trains. One extention on the Hoekse Lijn still in progress is the connection to the beach.
The extension to the beach can be seen multiple times in this video, with running trains. However, these trains are running in test operation on the new section and don't take any passengers yet. But at last, on March 31st the extension will finally be opened!
Ah, thanks for that. I found the extra set of rails confusing, but yes, it has to do with the profile ("profiel vrije ruimte"). There's a similar situation somewhere in Germany.
"Rotterdam isn't that big of a city..." Me: Oh, I thought it had well over 1 million people, but maybe it surprises and only has 500.000. "...with only about 2 million people" Me: So it is about 8 times larger than my own city, the second largest in my country.
"2 million people in the metro area." Rotterdam itself indeed has got more that a million residents but Reese generally uses the population of the metropolitian area. A better comparison is thus the metropolitian population of your city.
@@MarioFanGamer659 360.000 vs 2.000.000 is still a big difference. A "not that big of a city" to me is around the 500.000-700.000 with metro area. He does of course point out, that by global standards, 2 million is fairly small, but it's still an interesting difference in perspective.
Fun fact: Since the first line opened in 1968, The Netherlands had one of the shortest metroline of the world by only 5,9km in lenght. The first line, line D/E was only from Rotterdam Central Station to Zuidplein.
I think the line went one stop further to Slinge :-). And in the seventies it was extended to Hoogvliet-Zalmplaat and later to the current end point Spijkenisse.
8:12 The same solution can also be found on Athens Metro Line 3, specifically the section from Pallini to the airport. The stations there serve both metro trains and suburban trains. I'm wondering if you could do a video about it someday. It's bound to be interesting.
The lack of recent investments into the Dutch rail network, both mainline and metro systems is really down to our center right neo liberal government who are not at all interested in public transport. They only want our rail networks to become more efficient without having to do any major investments to actually improve the network.
Bullocks, this government coalition reserves a 4 billion extra investment in public transport. That is on top of the regular budget. I’m not a fan of this government coalition but your statement is false.
@@RealConstructor Yeah, sure! That's why our prime minister calls his own party the "Vroem, vroem-partij" for no reason... Furthermore, one investment in our transit system doesn't make up for years of desinvestment. This lack of insight in the importance of the commons, is, by the way, typical of the neoliberal worldview.
The Hague is a bit misplaced in the shot with the airport. It is a bit further north close the big highway interchange called prins clausplein. Where you put The Hague now is hoek van holland plus what is called westland and has a lot of agricultural companies harvesting fruit and vegetables using greenhouses.
It is not just “a bit” misplaced. The text is positioned on an entire different municipality. I’m just being clear on this. On the map itself it already says where The Hague is
Fun fact (and also personal opinion): Rotterdam metro has a very weird vibe with puke green tinted glasses and green seat covers on an otherwise grey & red train. Makes you feel like you're in the matrix :D
what makes the rotterdam metro stand out to me compared to the one in amsterdam is the demographic using it. From experience the rotterdam metro is filled much more diverse, and especially has a high number of elderly people with walkers/mobility scooters using it compared to transport elsewhere in the country.
Because it serves more central and important areas. Meanwhile many Amsterdam neighbourhoods aren't served by metro so many people don't have a need for it and rely on buses and trams instead and for many people the metro is completely irrelevant in their daily lives. I also think most of Amsterdam's elderly tend to stick to their own neighbourhoods more because they are more complete (more to do) than the average Rotterdam neighbourhood.
As someone from Rotterdam I visited Amsterdam last weekend. Where I prefer taking public transport in Rotterdam I mostly walk in Amsterdam. I was however a bit taken aback when I walked through the party districts. There was a much more hostile atmosphere than in the crowded places in Rotterdam. Not aggressive mind you, but less friendly. I've also encountered more hostility in the Amsterdam public transport system than in the Rotterdam one.
Amsterdam, with its pre-war city centre, was developed around walking and cycling, and in general much more compact. You can almost always just walk to everything you need. Rotterdam, on the other hand, was designed with the post-war car boom in mind. Distances are larger, you have more wide roads to cross. People who would normally just ride their mobility scooter along the narrow car streets or walk along the sidewalks, probably choose or need to go by public transport in Rotterdam.
Hi RM, love your vids. When discussing tram systems with NIMBYs I find that there are two things they are worried about: Safety and noise. They say that trams are dangerous (due to collisions with cars, I know, the irony) and that they make an infernal noise when passing by, which is especially problematic for people who live close to tram lines in urban areas. I would really like to see a video from you on these topics. I have the impression that these issues can be addressed with proper traffic planning and noise-cancelling technology, but I actually don't know... so I'm a little stumped when I discuss trams with NIMBYs. Thanks for all your great work!
Trams are objectively more dangerous than buses when making them share space with pedestrians, cyclists and cars. In Amsterdam, per passenger-kilometer, they're the most lethal method of transport to other road users. Tram gutters also cause many accidents with cyclists. There are many places where cyclists and trams share the same space. The reason for the many deaths caused by trams is simple: a tram weighs about 5 times more than a bus, and rail brakes are much less powerful than tires on asphalt. This results in a brake distance that's just unacceptable when you make such a vehicle interact with other vehicles and pedestrians. With today's very effective electric buses, a dedicated bus road constructed in much the same way as a tram track, is the ideal solution for situations where you otherwise have a rail vehicle interacting with other road users. You have a slight rolling resistance penalty, but if you really want, you can make it a trolleybus system like in Arnhem. Where you can keep rail vehicles physically separate from the rest, they're more efficient and safe enough. Any transit system should be tailored to the situation. We have better alternatives to trams in the situations where interaction with other traffic is a given. We have better alternatives to buses where traffic is separate. With regards to sound - i've stayed at someone's place in Amsterdam De Pijp a couple of weeks. They had very thick sound isolating windows and special sound isolating ventilation systems. Nothing came through those windows, except the deep rumble of steel wheels on steel track. Vibrations travel through the earth into the house. Buses were completely inaudible - even though those were still diesel ones at that time. Finally, the most modern trams of Amsterdam are the loudest in curves, which is really painful to those who lived near a tram line for years without being bothered but are now confronted with the metallic squeal multiple times per hour. They're trying to fix it, idk if it's already done or whether nothing can be done.
From my experience Rotterdam has a quite incredible system which makes travelling so fast and easy. I'd honestly recommend you take a look at the transit system of Groningen, it's a quite small city in the north of the Netherlands but it has one of the best bus systems in the world in my opinion and it shows that public transport can work even to rural areas.
I agree. Groningen buses have metro like infrastructure in places, grade separated with even an elevated station (Ulgersmaweg). The main routes are (being) electrified. Only Almere is better.
I would say the Rotterdam system is even more beautiful than the Amsterdam system, as the only impressive part of the Amsterdam metro is the new Noord-Zuidlijn. That's the only part of the Amsterdam Metro system that really feels like a metro line. The rest of the Amsterdam network (apart from a few kilometres underneath the city centre) is more like an S-bahn (like in Berlin), which runs next to the NS national rail tracks for it's full length, only with some more intermediate stations.
Calling something from Rotterdam "almost as good" as something from Amsterdam isn't going to make you a lot of friends in Rotterdam. 🙂 There are basically three major difference between the two cities that are relevant to their metro systems: 1) Amsterdam is built on a swamp. 2) Rotterdam was bombed into oblivion during the war. 3) Some very stupid mistakes were made in Amsterdam. Comparing Rotterdam and Amsterdam is like discussing the relative merits of Dutch and French in Belgium: a subject best left well alone. The cities have very different vibes to them. The way I see it, mostly because of the bombardments of Rotterdam. (There were more, mostly by the allies, but the one of 14th May 1940 by the Germans was the most devastating.) Amsterdam looks much like it did in the 17th century. Rotterdam has amazing architecture, but I feel that the heart was ripped out of the city in 1940, and you can see the result to this very day.
Rotterdam Metro certainly reminds me of a more grade separated version of the Frankfurt U-Bahn, you thus can see this explainer as a precursor to the latter's which itself will (probably) function as a precursor to the Stadtbahn explainers of Cologne, the Ruhr Area and Stuttgart given these share more characteristics of trams than Rotterdam and Frankfurt's systems do.
Converting train lines into metro lines between Hoek van Holland and Rotterdam and from Rotterdam to the Hague ment lines could run more frequent, metro’s were cheaper to buy and one thing you forgot: more stations could be added as a metro can increase and decrease speed faster because of lighter material. That means stations would be more within cycling distance of more people and an opportunity to build more housing around those stations or in those towns as people can commute more easily to work in Rotterdam of The Hague.
Uhh, Reece, Den Haag is not there where you put it at 3:04. It's waay more north to that, closer to the big junction between the A4 and A12 motorways, the Prins Clausplein. The area you're calling Den Haag is actually called "westland" and consists of a lot of greenhouse farms and not many large towns.
Another fun thing which you mentioned were line names like in London, because the Rotterdam metro actually had line names before they switched to the A-E format. The north-south line was called the "Erasmuslijn", while the east-west line was called the "Calandlijn". From what I know they stopped using the line names in 2010.
He wasn't implying it's the only one (he mentioned them on the Chicago L and Oslo T-Bana as well), he was merely highlighting the side effects from the conversion.
Nothing wrong with subway lines having grade crossings? Why, of all forms of rail transport, must a subway system in particular be defined by being completely grade separated from ALL other road & rail vehicles and completely enclosed from the outside world? Train frequency? It can be anywhere from 1 minute to 10 minutes or more, and if the crossing gates are down for like 20-30 seconds every minute (subway trains are short & shouldn't take longer than that to cross), how is that different from any traffic light cycle on any major intersection? And if the frequency is even less, like every 5-10 mins on the outskirts of less busy lines, there's even less issue with having grade crossings (5-10 mins is LRT frequency, most of which have lot's of grade crossings). 3rd rail? Long Island & Metro-North have no qualms about having grade crossings on 3rd-rail electrified lines. Train length / stopping distance? A subway train travels much slower & can stop much quicker than a mainline train (especially a freight train), yet that never stopped mainline railroads from having grade crossings. A subway train's stopping distance is much more comparable to that of an LRT.
"Why, of all forms of rail transport, must a subway system in particular be defined by being completely grade separated from ALL other road & rail vehicles and completely enclosed from the outside world?" Because we say so. One could also ask a similar question about streetcars and why they, of all forms of rail transport, run on street, mixing with cars and other vehicles. Now, "subway" may be used for underground railways in general as evident that the first American subway hosted streetcars (MBTA Green Line) instead of a grade separated railway but it nonetheless is generally used as the American term for "metro" or "rapid transit". "Train frequency? It can be anywhere from 1 minute to 10 minutes or more, and if the crossing gates are down for like 20-30 seconds every minute (subway trains are short & shouldn't take longer than that to cross), how is that different from any traffic light cycle on any major intersection?" Intersections are potential points of conflicts and can easily cause disruptions on the system (the trains may also drive at slower speeds which due to the crossings). I don't disagree that one could look behind on a less busy route (both, road and rail) but when one is busy (and obviously both as well), it's better to keep both apart (in fact, stroads are road-to-road explanation on why grade separation is necessary when not limiting speed). Furthermore, a lot of European countries are removing grade separations on their mainlines even on lines with slower speeds and lesser frequent lines. "3rd rail? Long Island & Metro-North have no qualms about having grade crossings on 3rd-rail electrified lines." So do the Berlin S-Bahn, south-eastern England, Oslo T-Bana, Chicago L, etc. The better question is: How long have these systems be electrified? "yet that never stopped mainline railroads from having grade crossings" Same point as above: Grade crossings are gradually removed in a lot of Europe, they're thus grandfathered. That being said, I don't disagree that subway train's have a generally good breaking distance so that's a point on you.
@@MarioFanGamer659 Sorry but "because we say so" is not a good enough reason. Definitions need not be all black and white and can have flexibility and nuance. Some streetcars/LRTs can & do run on fully grade separated ROWs, but that doesn't make it a subway line no matter how hard anyone tries to conflate streetcars and subways. Likewise, a fully grade separated mainline also doesn't automatically become a subway either. Therefore, an actual subway line that has a grade crossing somewhere isn't automatically "less than" a subway. There's also a huge difference between running in mixed traffic the whole way (like most streetcars) and having the occasional grade crossing (where the train takes priority anyway) interspersed on an otherwise grade-separated line. The type of rolling stock used is more indicative of the mode of transit than the absence of grade crossings. Although that can also be a gray area with some borderline systems like the PATH or Staten Island Railway, which are "technically" considered to be commuter rail systems despite using subway-type rolling stock and running subway-style service. "Intersections are potential points of conflicts and can easily cause disruptions on the system (the trains may also drive at slower speeds which due to the crossings)." Sure, but again, that doesn't stop virtually all other rail systems from having grade crossings. As for going slower at grade crossings, mainline trains most definitely don't do that a lot of the time. "So do the Berlin S-Bahn, south-eastern England, Oslo T-Bana, Chicago L, etc. The better question is: How long have these systems be electrified?" If the argument is that those systems are products of the time they were built, back when grade crossings were not seen as an issue even with 3rd rail electrification, we should be seeing a lot more legacy subway systems with grade crossings that were built at the same time as those rail lines, yet we don't (the Chicago L being one of the few exceptions). As for grade crossings being removed, it'll take a really long time to do every single one, nor do I think they will ever do that. And I'm not sure if it is now illegal to build any new grade crossings with mainline rail, but there are definitely lot's of new grade crossings being built with LRTs, even though one could argue that they too would be better off being grade separated.
@@H5subway5707 For some reason, RUclips really thought of eating my comment twice so I'm posting that quite a few weeks late. "Sorry but 'because we say so' is not a good enough reason." Yes, it is. Even countering with "flexibility and nuance" doesn't hide the fact that the common definition for "rapid transit" includes lack of grade crossings and having too many of them does make them less likely to be classified as such (e.g. the Hoekse and Hofplein lines are considered light rail instead of subway like the rest of the network). I also didn't meant to imply it's the only definition as it also includes stuff like frequency (which is IMO the most important factor, though also tied to grade crossings) and capacity (which you implied with "rolling stock") but still, you hopefully get my point. "Sure, but again, that doesn't stop virtually all other rail systems from having grade crossings." Streetcars aside, I personally would explain it as pretty early lines where safety had yet to be defined first (i.e. what are good and what are bad practices), how busy roads and rails are (obviously, in the middle of nowhere, no one mind the crossings but inside towns it's a different story) as well as cost given that placing hundreds of kilometres of rail is expensive and grade crossings don't make it any cheaper (particularly common in the US). But this further supports my point that full subways avoid level crossings given these points (they were build many decades after the start of the railway era, are build in the middle of cities which pushes for grade separation and generally have less trackage in kilometres compared to the outside). "As for going slower at grade crossings, mainline trains most definitely don't do that a lot of the time." Admittingly, I was mostly thinking of the Frankfurt U-Bahn where only parts of the system is build to proper metro standards while others are more typical of a tram (even looking behind the street running section on the U5). In particular, it occasionally runs in the median of a street and thanks to the many crossings which naturally appear, speeds are limited on these lines. A better example might be Brightline Florida as it's supposed to be higher speed rail (i.e. 125 mph speed) but due to the level crossings and the resulting accidents, the tracks had to be downgraded to 79 mph. Now, this is partially faulty of using half or no barriers at crossings but it still is an example of how level crossings affect the speed limit (Caltrain is another example as in the process of upgrading the tracks to 110 mph, a lot of crossings are removed while others get proper barriers). High-speed rail also is typically defined to be grade separated particularly for this very reason. In any case, this points goes to you. "If the argument is that those systems are products of the time they were built, back when grade crossings were not seen as an issue even with 3rd rail electrification, we should be seeing a lot more legacy subway systems with grade crossings that were built at the same time as those rail lines, yet we don't" That's because the lack of grade crossings was a concious choice even back in the day. By having the rails underground or elevated, points of conflicts are thus naturally removed but even at ground level, many systems (particularly those which were build from scratch) did take the effort to avoid any level crossings at least for active use (there may be some exceptions for shunting purposes like in Paris or the rails which are technically part of the Underground but not in use in London). Now, some legacy systems (particularily those which had a different purpose originally) did have crossings as e.g. the London Underground used to be an extension of mainlines before being taken over by TfL, and thus had crossings on the line, but they have since been removed, a decision made even before the recent action to actively remove crossings on mainlines on the UK. "but there are definitely lot's of new grade crossings being built with LRTs, even though one could argue that they too would be better off being grade separated." Let's be honest here: This is a strawman as a lot of these systems are supposed to be on street level even moreso that the "light" in LRT refer to standards and cost and grade separations do add in quite a bit of cost, don't they? However, I will mention that these LRT tend to be used in place of a proper metro (I personally see LA Metro Rail as an example as only two lines are build to proper metro standards) or regional railways (e.g. Seattle plans for extending LINK for over 60 miles long stretches when this would be heavy rail in Europe) so you're still right in some ways, just not for this very argument.
Some possible interesting facts; it was the first metro system in The Netherlands and upon being built the smallest in the world. Needed to be built because the old Willemsbrug clogging up. Also apart of rail maintenance the system makes a profit.
Addition: The metro line will be extended to the beach at Hoek van Holland on March 31, 2023. All residents of the Rijnmond region can walk to the beach in 1 minute from the Strand stop.
Fun fact, when the first metro line opened in 1968, is was one of the shortest at the time at less than 6 km. All the branches have a history of being extended little bits at a time with for instance the terminus station on the Western end having been Coolhaven, Marconiplein, Schiedam Central and currently Hoek van Holland Haven which from the looks of it will finally be officially extended and opened to the public to Hoek van Holland Strand (the beach!) next month after many years of delays. This is also why at Coolhaven and Marconiplein the platform is in the middle (departing trains could be on both tracks), while on most stations they are on the right side of the driving direction.
The metro of Rotterdam make use of the signalling system LZB (Linienförmige Zugbeeinflussung). LZB is also used in Germany for the high speed train lines. From station Melanchtonweg in Rotterdam (Line E) the metro will use overhead wires, but it is also a switch from the LZB system to the ZUB 222c, because the trams of the Randstadrail use ZUB 222c signalling system.
The Rotterdam metro reminds me a lot of the Hannover stadtbahn system, I took it once and it felt pretty weird so it would be interesting to see an explainer about it
Currently the Portuguese systems don't really stand out, there are loads of much more interesting transit systems. The good news is that there are plans for expansion that would/will change that. Lisbon getting extensions to the metro, 3 new light rail lines, lot's of upgrades to the suburban railway and potentially a new line, new interfaces... if these things get built then it will become a really interesting transit network.
In Porto, Portugal, they converted the previous suburban line to Póvoa (a city 40 mins to the north) to a light rail. And while this allowed to get a central section for the light rail for far cheaper (it also allowed for incresed connectivity, with a cross city line, because of the extension by tunel to the other side of the city, past the previous central terminus; and allowed for a modernization of the line which used to be a diesel single track line) it meant: - the connection to the northern terminus city (previously served by rail) was not improved regarding time because the light rail has way more stops (many unnecessary on rural areas) [this was partially solved by introducing express services after much complaining by the population] - made it impossible to extend the rail network arround Póvoa (the northern terminus) which has many interesting middle sized cities to connect to (including some old abandoned rail right of way preserved) - Considering the heavy acess to central porto is very limited (the "central station" is not big enough, has no easy space to expand and is only served by a overused 2 track tunnel for suburban trains only, because of this the main station of the city for all services including long distance is very far from central Porto) it also took away valuable right of way and space for a bigger central station in central Porto for heavy rail 😐😐 Meanwhile it opened way for a cheaper start to the light rail that was a huge success and is seeing a lot of expansion which is, of course, great (the original lines suffer, in general, limitations due to cost savings in the first phase of the light rail, with too many street level sections, curvy alignments, saturation of the common trunk that doesn't allow for very needed increasing of frequency)
11:08 “…Rotterdam could serve as a model for cities like LA that adopted similar technology to Rotterdam’s for their network…”. YES!! Excellent suggestion!
Hi , are you planing some videos on french network ? Many city in france have metro and tramway network (Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Lille, Renne ....) ?
I have lived in Rotterdam for almost a year now, and have never used the metro. I use my swapfiets. Thanks for this though. I'll probably use it more now!
Of course your transport use heavily depends on where you have to go, if you can be there faster on a bike than with public transport the bike is the better option most of the time
@@schtormm yeah for sure. I live in Noord, so pretty central. But I was thinking more about the metro to The Hague. Compared to having to take NS, that’s a steal
Missed an opportunity to show the picture of the metro accident where the front car of the metro ended up on a big whale tail statue! Truly one of the best pictures i've ever seen.
I think the biggest thing that will come soon is OVpay. A different way to pay with bank card or smart devices in stead of OV-chipkaart. Some regional business and the national rail service NS already support it in the Rotterdam region.
What really should also be mentioned is how in The Netherlands the "last mile" problem is of course completely solved by cycling. Its all a tiered system : bike -> tram/bus/metro -> train -> high speed train/plane or the other way around of course. This system completely replaces the need for a car since it truly provides a door-to-door service. The massive bike parkings and very cheap rental bikes (ov fiets 4 euro per day) are an essential part of this. The metro system therefore does not have to be as dense as for example London or Paris where ideally a station is within walking distance. Walking is only 5km/h while cycling is 15km/h on average.
Schiphol is in theory 24/7 available by rail, but during the night there are only very inefficient trains that only go a few times per night. So it might take a few hours (!) extra getting there compared to getting there during the day
It would defeat the purpose. Steel on steel is smoother and more stable. Rubber tires are more flexible in the sense that they can make tighter turns and inclines but they are also noisier and less stable (which increases with speed). You aren't taking inclines and relatively sharp turns at 100mph...
Some say the Dutch created their nation themselves by engineering precious dry land in the very wet Rhine Delta. This small nation is founded on Calvinist principles and with a can-do mentality. With on average 508.2 people living in each square kilometer, there is no space for ruins or wastelands. Amsterdam is the proud (and arrogant) capital city. It is a magnet for tourists, with many tourist traps and shady activities. Parliament resides in The Hague, a city with a rich history, beach resort Scheveningen and most governmental offices. Rotterdam is a working class city with no palaces or national museums. Bombarded to smithereens on May 14, 1940, the city of Rotterdam decided not to reconstruct the old city, build to design and build a modern new city, with wide boulevards and spacious squares for all types of activities. From 1975 onwards the city changed the policies on traffic. The Willemsbrug, Coolsingel, Erasmusbrug and Maastunnel process less traffic today, compared with the 1950-75 period. A older plan for a streetcar tunnel, crossing the river Meuse, grew into a bold plan for a first metro line. After a successful start in 1968, some people proposed to replace all tramlines with new metro lines. But financing such a project was an impossibility. Post World War 2 over a dozen new residential areas were built around the old city. These residential areas are very effectively connected by metro lines to the city center. One aspect is of vital importance; the City of Rotterdam is the economic powerhouse of the whole kingdom of the Netherlands. Rotterdam is the largest and busiest port of Europe. In a circle of 500 kilometer around Rotterdam live over 500 million Europeans (and this includes the world city metropoles of Berlin, Brussels, London and Paris). The are five oil refineries in Rotterdam, making Rotterdam the most prominent European center of energy. Rotterdam is employing many thousands of workers. Many industries contributed to prosperity, and Rotterdam became a strong minded city, that is capable and willing to invest in the future of the city and her inhabitants.
There are actually some plans to expand the metro network with a completely new line. This new line should run between Kralingse Zoom on the east-west trunk to Zuidplein on the north-south trunk. A new tunnel or bridge over the Nieuwe Maas is discussed, to improve connection between the east and south of the city. However, the debate on this line is still going, and there are also plans to build just a tram line to save costs.
4:05 The naming convention was different, lines D and C were called the "Calandlijn" and "Erasmuslijn". Most likely the all have names like that still, just not on the maps which is how it used to be. My guess is that Rotterdam has gotten a bit more focused on tourism
Line E used to only be served by randstad rail which used to have way superior metros than any other line, later all the old metros on the other lines got upgraded seating and a couple years after that they all started using the same metros, the branding at that point stopped making sense and i think the only it still exists is because it costs money to change it and nobody really seems to care, also the old metros used to be shorter, 3 wagons would be about the size of 2 new ones which created more flexibility as they could even go up to 4 wagons long which is still more than they can achieve with the new ones because the metro would be longer than the stations, hence why 2 wagons seems to be the default, they still sometimes take out the old metros though, i think they are stored in Rhoon but they only do that when there are issues with the other ones
7:36 while I agree the new metro part of the station is rather nice, the platforms the old suburban line used to use at Den Haag Centraal are completely unused nowadays (they aren't even connected to the rest of the track), which seems a waste to me. If those platforms weren't needed for NS trains, why bother making a whole new bit to the station?
Yeah, the new metro terminus still feels a bit unneccessary. Not to mention that the old platforms were at ground level, making for easier interchanges.
The old platforms will be needed in order to increase train frequency. The line to Rotterdam currently has 3 platforms (platforms 1 to 3), but it will need 4 platforms soon. So all the other trains need to shift down by at least one platform, using the old metro platforms
@@kikivoorburg Het plan is naar 10-minuten sprinters Dordrecht - Den Haag CS, 10-minuten intercity's (Vlissingen) - Dordrecht - Leiden - (...), en 30-minuten intercity's Eindhoven - Den Haag CS. Dat zou gebeuren zodra de huidige werkzaamheden in Delft afgerond zijn (hopelijk dit jaar).
@@OntarioTrafficMan Ah, logisch dat het met de werkzaamheden rond Delft te maken heeft. Het plan klinkt erg goed, zeker die 10-minuten intercity’s zouden geweldig zijn! Hopelijk lukt het om het dit jaar af te maken. Bedankt voor de info!
It is funny how you look at the Rotterdam transport system @RMTransit. I grew up in Spijkenisse, where the C and D lines end in the south part. I have seen a lot of the metro lines expand over the years. When I was a child the C line was called Calandline and went from Marconiplein to Capelle a/d IJssel and de D line was the Erasmusline going from the Akkers (where the famous metro landed on the whale tails) to Rotterdam Central Station. I used the metro a lot in my school time and in my opinion the Rotterdam metro line is one of the most clear compared to Paris or NYC.
He does have one planned. However we must remember that Seoul Metro and Seoul Metropolitan Subway are two different things. Seoul Metro is just one system on the network. There is also Korail and Incheon Subway
There is an actual practical use to the 4 bogies setup. In the afternoon they will decouple 1 of the units and return it to the depot, its to ensure to keep maintanance at minimum. The older 3 bogies train rarely get decoupled anymore, however 2 units are always needed because 1 unit only has one cab, so they almost always run 3 units. But in the past they’d run 4, but the newer stations don’t support 4 unit long trains. Only line C and D can in some surcomstances run 4 unit long trains. They don’t ever do this anymore sadly.
It used to be possible to land in Hoek (known in English as Hook of Holland) from the UK and get on a train to anywhere in Europe. Now you just end up on the Rotterdam metro.
@@markdebruyn1212 Exactly. Yet another backward step in sustainable connectivity in Europe. It used to be possible to make seamless train-ferry-train connections in Dover, Calais, Ostend, Hoek etc and the infrastructure and the connections have just about all disappeared (Harwich and Holyhead clinging on)
The Sheffield Supertram network in the UK also has that split level platform arrangement at Rotherham Centrall station on a recent extension, where low floor tram-trains share track with high floor heavy passenger rail services and freights. I think limited level crossings, perhaps exclusively at the lower frequency extremities of a light metro network, are OK as long as the general traffic level and its management ensures road vehicles can't block back across the rails, which risks delaying trains even if they can always safely stop clear of such obstructions. Fixed obstacle detection technology using radar or lidar scanners installed at the crossing might enable these to become compatible with future automation of metro driving. In central sections of lines where very high frequency of rail service operates, level crossings are definitely undesirable, not least because their highways would be closed for extended periods, rendering them fairly useless, except perhaps for very low demand access purposes.
Love your videos, you should do a video about the light rail/metro system in Israel, after 18 years!! of waiting the first light rail line is about to be opened in may. The line is part of a bigger plan to build 3 light rail lines and 3 metro lines, I would love to see a video about that.
Rotterdam metro driver here.. Great video with no false information. I wanted to add one thing about our Future plans; there are many (almost mandatory, because of the population growth) routes on schedule, but no one wants to pay for it.
Glad you sorted out everything, so now people from all over the world can enjoy our beautiful system! 😃
Aren't you guys opening het strand end of month?
That is an interesting bit of single trackage.
Lets see if the promissed future will finally come true this summer..reaching station Hoek van Holland beach on the "Hoekse lijn" 😉
@@connorcrowley1 yep!
So awesome to see you watched! Thanks for the insightful comments too!
@@evandalen4227 March 31 will be the opening day! (if everything goes right)
One of the things with the metro conversions of suburban rail in the Netherlands is that most of these rail lines have long operated as effectively isolated lines in the network. It was many decades since the last international trains went to Hoek van Holland, and the Zoetermeer/Hofplein railways routed basically exclusively into Den Haag Centraal. Under these circumstances it made basically no sense to keep them as railway and the change to metro/light rail was a huge upgrade.
For sure because it also enables more service!
The Sodner Bahn, which connects Frankfurt-Höchst and Bad Soden with each other, also is in a similar position: It's a shuttle between both stations and is fairly limited in scope but plans exist to integrate it into the U-Bahn network which extends it further south (this also had to be done anyway as the line will have a branch to Eschborn installed as part of an orbital line).
The U-bahn? Do you perhaps mean S-Bahn? This line is pretty far from the existing U-Bahn lines.
@@2712animefreak I really mean the U-Bahn: The terminus of Praunheim will be expanded westwards, making a connection to Höchst over Eschborn which in turn uses part of the Sodner Bahn. Look up the Regiontangente West to see what I mean.
@@RMTransit hi thanks for the great content, I'm from Hoek van Holland, small issue, den Hague is not where you put the label on the map, it's further north up the coast.
Where you put the label is the greenhouse area of the Westland, forgivable because it all looks like a city and one village joins into another.
Have a great day
As a transport planner in The Hague, you forgot the main advantage of the conversion: usage!
Ridership boomed after the conversion to metro (or tram-train for Zoetermeer). Turns out having a direct connection through the city center and a higher frequency is more important to users than the advantages of mainline trains.
Also fun fact: there are freight trains using a small portion of the Rotterdam metro network (in Vlaardingen). These use the old conmections to the port from when it was a mainline railway.
These freight trains are wider than metro trains. Thus, they have a special track that sits about half a metre further away from the platforms, the end of which can be seen at 9:16
You have a dream job!! I wish I can work your job.
@@IIVQ The American term for this is a "Gantlet" track.
Yes, I mentioned the freight trains and gauntlet track in the video on the Hoekse line, referenced here
@@andrewmasin5787 The British term is "Interlaced".
What should be noted is that the Dutch public transit network (especially in the Randstad) is truly a network. What you don't see is how the entire national passenger rail network ties into these networks, and how this is bolstered by excellent walkability and bikeability.
Cries in Hellevoetsluis', still have to watch the majority of the video, maybe he mentions it later, but the end point in Spijkenisse has been left open since (where those carts crashed on whales when the breaks didn't work, some 5 year ago. But unlike the initial plan of growing to ~120,000/150,000, we grew to around 50,000 and to many people it's pretty useless to finish it. Their excuse is; " It would bring a lot more crime..." > I'm 44 and have been reading about this plan on and off for my whole life. As a child, there was a still a tourist tram here, which used to be a direct line from a ferry here, to the South of Rotterdam (Rosenstraat). That line went through Spijkenisse, so at least now we got a sort of straight cycle path out of it, lol.
But when you look at the map, the best location would be Halfweg II, the edge of Spijk. Make a big (Free) parking lot and station, people from Brielle, Oostvoorne, Hellevoet and even from the island Goerree, would take the metro there. With bus and metro it's really not that appealing when you also have to take another form of transit when you get of the metro. Sometimes it's better to drive to Slinge, park there for free and then hop on.
4:18 Before the end of 2009 they actually had names similar to London, with the north-south line being Erasmuslijn and the eas-west line being Callandlijn (the portion to Den Haag was not connceted to the rest by then).
It turned out that especially tourists, but also natives, found it very confusing, so they decided to give each branch its own letter.
Welll… Lets just say that Dutch people are very active on RUclips and love to see stuff about their own country, which is why I’m not surprised at all that this was recommended a lot😂 (I’m from the Netherlands as well so I know)
Gekoloniseerd 😂
@@thomasrandwijk Aangezien dat Reece en ik Canadees zijn is het eigenlijk jullie die G E K O L O N I S E E R D worden!
One more quirky part of the metro is on the line to Hoek van Holland between Schiedam and Vlaardingen. Here the former railway, now metro tracks are still used by mainline freight trains during the night when there are no metro services. They had to create a solution with the track as seen at 9:15 at 2 station to fit the wider freight trains into the loading gauge of the metro.
Yes that's why he referred to my video on the Hoekse Lijn, which discusses those things
They also run during the day (outside rush hours), as i happened to be on a Metro train waiting on a station to let a freight train pass
The two trunk lines of the Rotterdam Metro System were named Noord-Zuidlijn and Oost-Westlijn, and later renamed to Erasmuslijn and Calandlijn in 1997. The current system of letters and colours were introduced because it was confusing for non-locals.
Even more so confusing when both lines were tied together at Spijkenisse, because how can you have a Western most branch that meets up with the Southern most branch? So they dropped the names and colours (red and blue), and gave them all their own letter and colour.
As someone from Zoetermeer who has lived in The Hague and Rotterdam, I still find it confusing when they say "richting De Akkers" or something. How am I supposed to know where that is? Aren't there akkers everywhere? 🤣 It would have always seemed more logical for me to say "westbound" or "eastbound" or something.
@@Bianca_Toeps Exactly!
It has been a pet peeve of mine, how unclear the routes and directions are when you're standing on the platform itself. Unless you're experienced, it's just confusing.
They could learn from Budapest, where they list the stations the rail line will go to, visible from the platform, behind where the metro stops.
Shenzhen's metro also originally named its lines but later changed them to numbers e.g. _LuoBao_ (罗宝/羅寶) line is a portmaneau of _Luohu_ (罗/羅湖) & _Baoan_ (宝/寶安), 2 of the districts served by the line, but it's now known as Line 1. On the other hand Japan's subways/metros are still sticking to their lines' names, but their meanings can be more transparent than you think e.g. _Fukutoshin_ (副都心)- "auxiliary metropolis centre", _Tozai_ (東/东西) - "east west". Singapore's also sticking to naming its lines but there came a time where it was probably running out of names to give, hence we get the generically named Downtown Line (I would've called it the _Bukit_ ('hill/mountain' in Malay) Line as it serves *_Bukit_*_ Panjang_ town, *_Bukit_*_ Timah_ region & _Kaki _*_Bukit_* neighbourhood)
@@Bianca_Toeps Metrostation Berkel Westpolderhas the words Noordwaarts and Zuidwaarts (Northbound and Southbound) from outside visible to the respective platforms.
Love it! I've very fond of rotterdam's transit and I really appreciate it when you make videos like this.
Glad you enjoy it!
The Rotterdam metro is REALLY insane
When I visited Rotterdam and took the metro, I was very confused seeing catenary after getting of the train, as I clearly remember having seen 3rd rail at the station when getting on the train
There really isn’t a lot of systems where you can do that!
@@RMTransit Boston
Something Amsterdam ditched, but those metro’s itself are still in service. The line itself is now only purely driven with trams.
Seeing a train doing a conversion from the 3rd rail to overhead wire while being in motion is one of those things that never get old to me. You can see this happen at Station Capelsebrug. That or at Schiedam Nieuweland 6:12
I suggest to take a look to Den Hague Central station.
Beside Rotterdam metro terminal station, inside the hall an elevated tram track passes by with a stop to interchange with rails and metro.
Very peculiar and interesting design
I go there every workday, so if you need any photos...
The weird thing is that the whole expensive metro terminus thingy was built atop Den Haag Centraal to free up tracks 11 and 12 under pressure from NS/Prorail. Which promptly neglected to do anything with the tracks for the next ten years or so. They're only just getting upgraded.
Doesn’t look like the easiest to learn the most effective way to get around town. Must have been a piecemeal design
It was a piecemeal design, but it isn't that difficult (assuming one can read a map).
As someone who live in between The Hague and Rotterdam, I like the metro a lot. I go to my study in Rotterdam everyday with this metro and I can tell you there are barely any delays. If you go before 8:30 am you will have to stand in the metro but it’s not that bad. I also like that you visited my village which seems like such a weird thing for a non-Dutchy to come there. I like these metros a lot and now I can easily travel to Rotterdam without spending a lot of time. Which also helps for students is that we have ‘studentenov’ which means in workdays the whole infrastructure system will be free, this is actually amazing it saves me thousands of bucks each year. It’s an easy way to travel to friends who live there and you can tell im really positive about this metro.
Hey! The Hague (mentioned at 2:47) is up north from what you showed in the video. You actually showed "Westland" a big agricultural logistics and production hub of vegetables and flowers/plants in greenhouses. They should be linked up with a metro to The Hague and Rotterdam as there're only bus routes that take ages to get you to The Hague and Rotterdam.
The extension of line B between Hoek van Holland and Schiedam suffered major budget and planning overruns and they're now in the final phase of completion as the extension from Hoek van Holland Haven (port) to Hoek van Holland Strand (beach). The metro literally halts at only 100 meters from the beach and they had to engineer tracks that didn't suffer from sand accumulation. This is a new section instead of a converted section and they're planning to open it to the public in the coming weeks.
The former national railway line has a rich history. It served major international trains connecting Great Brittain via ferry and Europe via the Orient Express, Scandinavian Express and Rheingold Express.
Glad to see this mentioned. It struck me immediately and compelled me to double-check on Google maps.
as someone who grew up in suburban USA, living in Rotterdam is amazing, theres literally every type of public transit available with the buses, trams, metro, trains, and even ferries, I use the metro nearly every day so its nice to see it appreciated, and to remind myself I'm lucky to live in a place with such reliable frequent public transit!
The Netherlands is one of the most forward thinking countries on Earth! They combine marvellous engineering with simple, pragmatic concepts.
Netherlands* holland are two federal states/regions in the country
so forward thinking in fact that they forgot about what happened between 1945 and 1949
Agreed
@@defaultmesh ?? what are you even referring to?
*Netherlands.
Metro line E was converted from a unprofitable branch line to a successful metro line. The same happened with the Hoekse lijn.
It’s a very interesting approach!
The hoekse lijn wasn’t unprofitable for the NS
The ns itself is unprofitable for the country😒
@@fen0221 have you seen the Rail companies in the countries around the Netherlands? The NS is pretty good
@@fen0221 NS turned a profit every year until the pandemic, and those profits were returned to Dutch taxpayers.
Funny that your first clip of R'dam metro was at Den Haag NOI! They really are twin cities. I live on that line and great service, because of the interlining better service than I ever had in NYC.
P.S. you left out the fact that R'dam is so much better than A'dam!
P.S.S. the different brands are actually different operators with different ownership schemes.
Probably because 1 of the lines extend to Den Haag
@@RobertDoornbosF1 i know! My local stop is on that line.
@@connorcrowley1 Ah okay, couldn't figure from the name ur a local😅
@@RobertDoornbosF1 well... Technically I am from Noord Holland.
@@connorcrowley1 No no I didn't mean that you aren't a local. Just that I couldn't figure out from the name. If you were like Kees Boerman I probably would not have commented
What is probably one of the best things about the RET metro is how insanely reliable it is. Currently there are some issues with the NS (lack of personnel almost in every layer of the organisation), and I have had the unpleasant surprise of rail maintenance (ie no trains), broken trains, accidents etc. more than once. Well, literally never on the metro, I have always been able to take the metro (within service hours obv) and my mother has taken the metro for most of her working life almost daily, we have had to pick her up only once because of some major accident.
Also: weirdly enough the main central station isn't where all the lines converge, it's Beurs station which is a very loooooooong station in the center (shopping and business district)
Considering your channel is literally called Rotterdam Metro Transit, it's no surprise this is your most requested video.
Gekoloniseerd
Great video (as always!), but you missed the unique structures they have in Spijkenisse to prevent trains from crashing down ;-)
😂🐋🐋
No it's quite normal for there to be a tail track at the end of a metro line
@@OntarioTrafficMan I'm afraid you missed the reference :) Have a search for "walvis metro"!
At least a picture of the crashed metro on the whale tails.
De walvissen 😅😅🐋🐋
OMG I am so happy that you made a video about the Rotterdam metro! I use this metro almost every day. Btw, there might be an extension of the metro network coming soon, as there are plans for another north-south line, connecting the current north-south line directly to the more eastern part of the west-east tunnel. However, it is more likely that this will become a tram line.
Thanks for the info! I’m happy you enjoyed
Hi Khan, sorry to say that option has been scrapped. It will be another tramline along the strevelsweg across the new bridge to Kralingse Zoom. Main cause was the cost of course of a new metro tunnel (and the scrapping of the new stadium).
@@maartenbaas8513 as far as I know the final decision hasn't been made yet. But yeah, it's 99% surely gonna be another tram line, even though the city council wanted a metro :/ (thx national government)
Verdomme, ik had nooit verwacht jou nog eens hier te zien... Hopelijk gaat alles goed daarzo :D
Where do you keep up to date on this? I try to follow the city’s projects but haven’t yet found a great source
Well done explainer, but on 3:03 you're showing the Westland-region as The Hague ;)
A small addition on "De Hoekse lijn" is that that track is also used by freight trains. In the video at 6:12 you show one of the stations where a 3rd rail is visible, That rail is part of the "solution" so freight trains can pass the stations, since the Metro has another format than the regular freight trains. One extention on the Hoekse Lijn still in progress is the connection to the beach.
The extension to the beach can be seen multiple times in this video, with running trains. However, these trains are running in test operation on the new section and don't take any passengers yet. But at last, on March 31st the extension will finally be opened!
Ah, thanks for that. I found the extra set of rails confusing, but yes, it has to do with the profile ("profiel vrije ruimte"). There's a similar situation somewhere in Germany.
Can you make a video on the Brussels transit system next?
"Rotterdam isn't that big of a city..."
Me: Oh, I thought it had well over 1 million people, but maybe it surprises and only has 500.000.
"...with only about 2 million people"
Me: So it is about 8 times larger than my own city, the second largest in my country.
"2 million people in the metro area." Rotterdam itself indeed has got more that a million residents but Reese generally uses the population of the metropolitian area.
A better comparison is thus the metropolitian population of your city.
@@MarioFanGamer659 360.000 vs 2.000.000 is still a big difference. A "not that big of a city" to me is around the 500.000-700.000 with metro area.
He does of course point out, that by global standards, 2 million is fairly small, but it's still an interesting difference in perspective.
Fun fact: Since the first line opened in 1968, The Netherlands had one of the shortest metroline of the world by only 5,9km in lenght. The first line, line D/E was only from Rotterdam Central Station to Zuidplein.
And now at 160km it is probably one of the longest
I think the line went one stop further to Slinge :-). And in the seventies it was extended to Hoogvliet-Zalmplaat and later to the current end point Spijkenisse.
@@remcobrouwer3781 It was one year later when it was extended to Slinge.
Next Transit Explained: Boston, Munich U-Bahn, Seoul, Shanghai.
Munich U-Bahn was already explained.
Lots more videos to make, but not Munich!
8:12 The same solution can also be found on Athens Metro Line 3, specifically the section from Pallini to the airport. The stations there serve both metro trains and suburban trains. I'm wondering if you could do a video about it someday. It's bound to be interesting.
The lack of recent investments into the Dutch rail network, both mainline and metro systems is really down to our center right neo liberal government who are not at all interested in public transport. They only want our rail networks to become more efficient without having to do any major investments to actually improve the network.
Bullocks, this government coalition reserves a 4 billion extra investment in public transport. That is on top of the regular budget. I’m not a fan of this government coalition but your statement is false.
@@RealConstructor Yeah, sure! That's why our prime minister calls his own party the "Vroem, vroem-partij" for no reason... Furthermore, one investment in our transit system doesn't make up for years of desinvestment. This lack of insight in the importance of the commons, is, by the way, typical of the neoliberal worldview.
The Hague is a bit misplaced in the shot with the airport. It is a bit further north close the big highway interchange called prins clausplein. Where you put The Hague now is hoek van holland plus what is called westland and has a lot of agricultural companies harvesting fruit and vegetables using greenhouses.
Yes, there are a crazy number of greenhouses!
It is not just “a bit” misplaced. The text is positioned on an entire different municipality. I’m just being clear on this. On the map itself it already says where The Hague is
Fun fact (and also personal opinion): Rotterdam metro has a very weird vibe with puke green tinted glasses and green seat covers on an otherwise grey & red train. Makes you feel like you're in the matrix :D
i have never thought of it that way
Yeah the green tint does give it a kind of plasticky feel
@@OntarioTrafficMan luckily the plastic seats have been gone since 2018 and have all been converted to fabric on the old metro's (SG2/1 and MG2/1)
what makes the rotterdam metro stand out to me compared to the one in amsterdam is the demographic using it. From experience the rotterdam metro is filled much more diverse, and especially has a high number of elderly people with walkers/mobility scooters using it compared to transport elsewhere in the country.
Rotterdam is a proper city.
Amsterdam is an oversized tourist town.
Because it serves more central and important areas. Meanwhile many Amsterdam neighbourhoods aren't served by metro so many people don't have a need for it and rely on buses and trams instead and for many people the metro is completely irrelevant in their daily lives. I also think most of Amsterdam's elderly tend to stick to their own neighbourhoods more because they are more complete (more to do) than the average Rotterdam neighbourhood.
As someone from Rotterdam I visited Amsterdam last weekend. Where I prefer taking public transport in Rotterdam I mostly walk in Amsterdam. I was however a bit taken aback when I walked through the party districts. There was a much more hostile atmosphere than in the crowded places in Rotterdam. Not aggressive mind you, but less friendly. I've also encountered more hostility in the Amsterdam public transport system than in the Rotterdam one.
Amsterdam, with its pre-war city centre, was developed around walking and cycling, and in general much more compact. You can almost always just walk to everything you need.
Rotterdam, on the other hand, was designed with the post-war car boom in mind. Distances are larger, you have more wide roads to cross. People who would normally just ride their mobility scooter along the narrow car streets or walk along the sidewalks, probably choose or need to go by public transport in Rotterdam.
@@mfbfreak and Ajax lost.
Hi RM, love your vids. When discussing tram systems with NIMBYs I find that there are two things they are worried about: Safety and noise. They say that trams are dangerous (due to collisions with cars, I know, the irony) and that they make an infernal noise when passing by, which is especially problematic for people who live close to tram lines in urban areas. I would really like to see a video from you on these topics.
I have the impression that these issues can be addressed with proper traffic planning and noise-cancelling technology, but I actually don't know... so I'm a little stumped when I discuss trams with NIMBYs.
Thanks for all your great work!
Trams are objectively more dangerous than buses when making them share space with pedestrians, cyclists and cars. In Amsterdam, per passenger-kilometer, they're the most lethal method of transport to other road users. Tram gutters also cause many accidents with cyclists. There are many places where cyclists and trams share the same space.
The reason for the many deaths caused by trams is simple: a tram weighs about 5 times more than a bus, and rail brakes are much less powerful than tires on asphalt. This results in a brake distance that's just unacceptable when you make such a vehicle interact with other vehicles and pedestrians.
With today's very effective electric buses, a dedicated bus road constructed in much the same way as a tram track, is the ideal solution for situations where you otherwise have a rail vehicle interacting with other road users. You have a slight rolling resistance penalty, but if you really want, you can make it a trolleybus system like in Arnhem.
Where you can keep rail vehicles physically separate from the rest, they're more efficient and safe enough.
Any transit system should be tailored to the situation. We have better alternatives to trams in the situations where interaction with other traffic is a given. We have better alternatives to buses where traffic is separate.
With regards to sound - i've stayed at someone's place in Amsterdam De Pijp a couple of weeks. They had very thick sound isolating windows and special sound isolating ventilation systems. Nothing came through those windows, except the deep rumble of steel wheels on steel track. Vibrations travel through the earth into the house.
Buses were completely inaudible - even though those were still diesel ones at that time.
Finally, the most modern trams of Amsterdam are the loudest in curves, which is really painful to those who lived near a tram line for years without being bothered but are now confronted with the metallic squeal multiple times per hour. They're trying to fix it, idk if it's already done or whether nothing can be done.
3:03 That isn't Den Haag, you're pointing to Hoek van Holland. Den Haag is at the top of the screen
Yay, I requested this video a while ago. Can't wait to watch it😊🔥
Yay! Thank you!
amazing video as always, at some point I would love to see you do a video on the Klang Valley Integrated Transit in Malaysia! :D
Send me an email if you’re located in the area!
From my experience Rotterdam has a quite incredible system which makes travelling so fast and easy. I'd honestly recommend you take a look at the transit system of Groningen, it's a quite small city in the north of the Netherlands but it has one of the best bus systems in the world in my opinion and it shows that public transport can work even to rural areas.
I will definitely cover the Netherlands more in the future
@@RMTransit that'd be really great to see, there are some quite unique transit systems here so there's more than enough to cover
I agree. Groningen buses have metro like infrastructure in places, grade separated with even an elevated station (Ulgersmaweg). The main routes are (being) electrified. Only Almere is better.
Rotterdams metro system looks amazing, almost just as much as Amsterdam, the stations and rolling stock look spectacular
Couldn't agree more! Though it is also rather strange!
I would say the Rotterdam system is even more beautiful than the Amsterdam system, as the only impressive part of the Amsterdam metro is the new Noord-Zuidlijn. That's the only part of the Amsterdam Metro system that really feels like a metro line. The rest of the Amsterdam network (apart from a few kilometres underneath the city centre) is more like an S-bahn (like in Berlin), which runs next to the NS national rail tracks for it's full length, only with some more intermediate stations.
Calling something from Rotterdam "almost as good" as something from Amsterdam isn't going to make you a lot of friends in Rotterdam. 🙂
There are basically three major difference between the two cities that are relevant to their metro systems:
1) Amsterdam is built on a swamp.
2) Rotterdam was bombed into oblivion during the war.
3) Some very stupid mistakes were made in Amsterdam.
Comparing Rotterdam and Amsterdam is like discussing the relative merits of Dutch and French in Belgium: a subject best left well alone. The cities have very different vibes to them. The way I see it, mostly because of the bombardments of Rotterdam. (There were more, mostly by the allies, but the one of 14th May 1940 by the Germans was the most devastating.)
Amsterdam looks much like it did in the 17th century. Rotterdam has amazing architecture, but I feel that the heart was ripped out of the city in 1940, and you can see the result to this very day.
@@ronaldvanhemiksem3544 Juist. 🙂
The Hague is beautiful! It's something I wish a lot of my countrymen would see before they die! Like Henry Kissinger for instance.
Rotterdam Metro certainly reminds me of a more grade separated version of the Frankfurt U-Bahn, you thus can see this explainer as a precursor to the latter's which itself will (probably) function as a precursor to the Stadtbahn explainers of Cologne, the Ruhr Area and Stuttgart given these share more characteristics of trams than Rotterdam and Frankfurt's systems do.
Could you please do Hamburg at some point? I would love to see that. Great Video as well.
Converting train lines into metro lines between Hoek van Holland and Rotterdam and from Rotterdam to the Hague ment lines could run more frequent, metro’s were cheaper to buy and one thing you forgot: more stations could be added as a metro can increase and decrease speed faster because of lighter material. That means stations would be more within cycling distance of more people and an opportunity to build more housing around those stations or in those towns as people can commute more easily to work in Rotterdam of The Hague.
Uhh, Reece, Den Haag is not there where you put it at 3:04. It's waay more north to that, closer to the big junction between the A4 and A12 motorways, the Prins Clausplein. The area you're calling Den Haag is actually called "westland" and consists of a lot of greenhouse farms and not many large towns.
Another fun thing which you mentioned were line names like in London, because the Rotterdam metro actually had line names before they switched to the A-E format. The north-south line was called the "Erasmuslijn", while the east-west line was called the "Calandlijn". From what I know they stopped using the line names in 2010.
There is a 90's dj track called 'Rotterdam subway' by General Noise.
Rotterdam isn't the only Metro with level crossings because IIRC so does the Tyne and Wear metro.
He wasn't implying it's the only one (he mentioned them on the Chicago L and Oslo T-Bana as well), he was merely highlighting the side effects from the conversion.
Can you make please a video with the metro of Athens and the new lines on it??
Someone who uses the RET Daily/weekly I didn’t even need to read the title when I saw the thumbnail of the ret metro
That makes me very happy and means the drawing was good!
Nothing wrong with subway lines having grade crossings? Why, of all forms of rail transport, must a subway system in particular be defined by being completely grade separated from ALL other road & rail vehicles and completely enclosed from the outside world?
Train frequency? It can be anywhere from 1 minute to 10 minutes or more, and if the crossing gates are down for like 20-30 seconds every minute (subway trains are short & shouldn't take longer than that to cross), how is that different from any traffic light cycle on any major intersection? And if the frequency is even less, like every 5-10 mins on the outskirts of less busy lines, there's even less issue with having grade crossings (5-10 mins is LRT frequency, most of which have lot's of grade crossings).
3rd rail? Long Island & Metro-North have no qualms about having grade crossings on 3rd-rail electrified lines.
Train length / stopping distance? A subway train travels much slower & can stop much quicker than a mainline train (especially a freight train), yet that never stopped mainline railroads from having grade crossings. A subway train's stopping distance is much more comparable to that of an LRT.
"Why, of all forms of rail transport, must a subway system in particular be defined by being completely grade separated from ALL other road & rail vehicles and completely enclosed from the outside world?"
Because we say so. One could also ask a similar question about streetcars and why they, of all forms of rail transport, run on street, mixing with cars and other vehicles.
Now, "subway" may be used for underground railways in general as evident that the first American subway hosted streetcars (MBTA Green Line) instead of a grade separated railway but it nonetheless is generally used as the American term for "metro" or "rapid transit".
"Train frequency? It can be anywhere from 1 minute to 10 minutes or more, and if the crossing gates are down for like 20-30 seconds every minute (subway trains are short & shouldn't take longer than that to cross), how is that different from any traffic light cycle on any major intersection?"
Intersections are potential points of conflicts and can easily cause disruptions on the system (the trains may also drive at slower speeds which due to the crossings). I don't disagree that one could look behind on a less busy route (both, road and rail) but when one is busy (and obviously both as well), it's better to keep both apart (in fact, stroads are road-to-road explanation on why grade separation is necessary when not limiting speed). Furthermore, a lot of European countries are removing grade separations on their mainlines even on lines with slower speeds and lesser frequent lines.
"3rd rail? Long Island & Metro-North have no qualms about having grade crossings on 3rd-rail electrified lines."
So do the Berlin S-Bahn, south-eastern England, Oslo T-Bana, Chicago L, etc. The better question is: How long have these systems be electrified?
"yet that never stopped mainline railroads from having grade crossings"
Same point as above: Grade crossings are gradually removed in a lot of Europe, they're thus grandfathered. That being said, I don't disagree that subway train's have a generally good breaking distance so that's a point on you.
@@MarioFanGamer659
Sorry but "because we say so" is not a good enough reason. Definitions need not be all black and white and can have flexibility and nuance. Some streetcars/LRTs can & do run on fully grade separated ROWs, but that doesn't make it a subway line no matter how hard anyone tries to conflate streetcars and subways. Likewise, a fully grade separated mainline also doesn't automatically become a subway either. Therefore, an actual subway line that has a grade crossing somewhere isn't automatically "less than" a subway. There's also a huge difference between running in mixed traffic the whole way (like most streetcars) and having the occasional grade crossing (where the train takes priority anyway) interspersed on an otherwise grade-separated line. The type of rolling stock used is more indicative of the mode of transit than the absence of grade crossings. Although that can also be a gray area with some borderline systems like the PATH or Staten Island Railway, which are "technically" considered to be commuter rail systems despite using subway-type rolling stock and running subway-style service.
"Intersections are potential points of conflicts and can easily cause disruptions on the system (the trains may also drive at slower speeds which due to the crossings)."
Sure, but again, that doesn't stop virtually all other rail systems from having grade crossings. As for going slower at grade crossings, mainline trains most definitely don't do that a lot of the time.
"So do the Berlin S-Bahn, south-eastern England, Oslo T-Bana, Chicago L, etc. The better question is: How long have these systems be electrified?"
If the argument is that those systems are products of the time they were built, back when grade crossings were not seen as an issue even with 3rd rail electrification, we should be seeing a lot more legacy subway systems with grade crossings that were built at the same time as those rail lines, yet we don't (the Chicago L being one of the few exceptions). As for grade crossings being removed, it'll take a really long time to do every single one, nor do I think they will ever do that. And I'm not sure if it is now illegal to build any new grade crossings with mainline rail, but there are definitely lot's of new grade crossings being built with LRTs, even though one could argue that they too would be better off being grade separated.
@@H5subway5707 For some reason, RUclips really thought of eating my comment twice so I'm posting that quite a few weeks late.
"Sorry but 'because we say so' is not a good enough reason."
Yes, it is. Even countering with "flexibility and nuance" doesn't hide the fact that the common definition for "rapid transit" includes lack of grade crossings and having too many of them does make them less likely to be classified as such (e.g. the Hoekse and Hofplein lines are considered light rail instead of subway like the rest of the network). I also didn't meant to imply it's the only definition as it also includes stuff like frequency (which is IMO the most important factor, though also tied to grade crossings) and capacity (which you implied with "rolling stock") but still, you hopefully get my point.
"Sure, but again, that doesn't stop virtually all other rail systems from having grade crossings."
Streetcars aside, I personally would explain it as pretty early lines where safety had yet to be defined first (i.e. what are good and what are bad practices), how busy roads and rails are (obviously, in the middle of nowhere, no one mind the crossings but inside towns it's a different story) as well as cost given that placing hundreds of kilometres of rail is expensive and grade crossings don't make it any cheaper (particularly common in the US). But this further supports my point that full subways avoid level crossings given these points (they were build many decades after the start of the railway era, are build in the middle of cities which pushes for grade separation and generally have less trackage in kilometres compared to the outside).
"As for going slower at grade crossings, mainline trains most definitely don't do that a lot of the time."
Admittingly, I was mostly thinking of the Frankfurt U-Bahn where only parts of the system is build to proper metro standards while others are more typical of a tram (even looking behind the street running section on the U5). In particular, it occasionally runs in the median of a street and thanks to the many crossings which naturally appear, speeds are limited on these lines.
A better example might be Brightline Florida as it's supposed to be higher speed rail (i.e. 125 mph speed) but due to the level crossings and the resulting accidents, the tracks had to be downgraded to 79 mph. Now, this is partially faulty of using half or no barriers at crossings but it still is an example of how level crossings affect the speed limit (Caltrain is another example as in the process of upgrading the tracks to 110 mph, a lot of crossings are removed while others get proper barriers). High-speed rail also is typically defined to be grade separated particularly for this very reason.
In any case, this points goes to you.
"If the argument is that those systems are products of the time they were built, back when grade crossings were not seen as an issue even with 3rd rail electrification, we should be seeing a lot more legacy subway systems with grade crossings that were built at the same time as those rail lines, yet we don't"
That's because the lack of grade crossings was a concious choice even back in the day. By having the rails underground or elevated, points of conflicts are thus naturally removed but even at ground level, many systems (particularly those which were build from scratch) did take the effort to avoid any level crossings at least for active use (there may be some exceptions for shunting purposes like in Paris or the rails which are technically part of the Underground but not in use in London).
Now, some legacy systems (particularily those which had a different purpose originally) did have crossings as e.g. the London Underground used to be an extension of mainlines before being taken over by TfL, and thus had crossings on the line, but they have since been removed, a decision made even before the recent action to actively remove crossings on mainlines on the UK.
"but there are definitely lot's of new grade crossings being built with LRTs, even though one could argue that they too would be better off being grade separated."
Let's be honest here: This is a strawman as a lot of these systems are supposed to be on street level even moreso that the "light" in LRT refer to standards and cost and grade separations do add in quite a bit of cost, don't they? However, I will mention that these LRT tend to be used in place of a proper metro (I personally see LA Metro Rail as an example as only two lines are build to proper metro standards) or regional railways (e.g. Seattle plans for extending LINK for over 60 miles long stretches when this would be heavy rail in Europe) so you're still right in some ways, just not for this very argument.
It's weird to be that early...
I always take Line E to Den Haag centraal and then take the tram to the beach
Some possible interesting facts; it was the first metro system in The Netherlands and upon being built the smallest in the world. Needed to be built because the old Willemsbrug clogging up. Also apart of rail maintenance the system makes a profit.
Dutch metro lines are strangely similar to Japanese suburban rail lines
Hello! Could you do a video on the Tyne and Wear metro?
Addition: The metro line will be extended to the beach at Hoek van Holland on March 31, 2023. All residents of the Rijnmond region can walk to the beach in 1 minute from the Strand stop.
As a Dutch viewer of your channel, I'd like to compliment you on your pronunciation of the Dutch words. Very well done!
Fun fact, when the first metro line opened in 1968, is was one of the shortest at the time at less than 6 km. All the branches have a history of being extended little bits at a time with for instance the terminus station on the Western end having been Coolhaven, Marconiplein, Schiedam Central and currently Hoek van Holland Haven which from the looks of it will finally be officially extended and opened to the public to Hoek van Holland Strand (the beach!) next month after many years of delays. This is also why at Coolhaven and Marconiplein the platform is in the middle (departing trains could be on both tracks), while on most stations they are on the right side of the driving direction.
Yes my favorite
The famous "saved by whale's tail" incident took place here! Think about funky, wacky
The metro of Rotterdam make use of the signalling system LZB (Linienförmige Zugbeeinflussung). LZB is also used in Germany for the high speed train lines. From station Melanchtonweg in Rotterdam (Line E) the metro will use overhead wires, but it is also a switch from the LZB system to the ZUB 222c, because the trams of the Randstadrail use ZUB 222c signalling system.
Beveiligingssysteem in het Engels is "signalling system", of "train protection system"
The Rotterdam metro reminds me a lot of the Hannover stadtbahn system, I took it once and it felt pretty weird so it would be interesting to see an explainer about it
What do you want to be explained about it?
Awesome video! Has there been a video on any Portuguese metro system?
Not yet!
Currently the Portuguese systems don't really stand out, there are loads of much more interesting transit systems. The good news is that there are plans for expansion that would/will change that. Lisbon getting extensions to the metro, 3 new light rail lines, lot's of upgrades to the suburban railway and potentially a new line, new interfaces... if these things get built then it will become a really interesting transit network.
In Porto, Portugal, they converted the previous suburban line to Póvoa (a city 40 mins to the north) to a light rail.
And while this allowed to get a central section for the light rail for far cheaper (it also allowed for incresed connectivity, with a cross city line, because of the extension by tunel to the other side of the city, past the previous central terminus; and allowed for a modernization of the line which used to be a diesel single track line) it meant:
- the connection to the northern terminus city (previously served by rail) was not improved regarding time because the light rail has way more stops (many unnecessary on rural areas) [this was partially solved by introducing express services after much complaining by the population]
- made it impossible to extend the rail network arround Póvoa (the northern terminus) which has many interesting middle sized cities to connect to (including some old abandoned rail right of way preserved)
- Considering the heavy acess to central porto is very limited (the "central station" is not big enough, has no easy space to expand and is only served by a overused 2 track tunnel for suburban trains only, because of this the main station of the city for all services including long distance is very far from central Porto) it also took away valuable right of way and space for a bigger central station in central Porto for heavy rail 😐😐
Meanwhile it opened way for a cheaper start to the light rail that was a huge success and is seeing a lot of expansion which is, of course, great (the original lines suffer, in general, limitations due to cost savings in the first phase of the light rail, with too many street level sections, curvy alignments, saturation of the common trunk that doesn't allow for very needed increasing of frequency)
11:08 “…Rotterdam could serve as a model for cities like LA that adopted similar technology to Rotterdam’s for their network…”. YES!! Excellent suggestion!
This Ontario Traffic Man is scarily close to my house
Great vid as always!!
Glad you enjoyed!
Hi , are you planing some videos on french network ? Many city in france have metro and tramway network (Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Lille, Renne ....) ?
I have lived in Rotterdam for almost a year now, and have never used the metro. I use my swapfiets. Thanks for this though. I'll probably use it more now!
You definitely should!
Of course your transport use heavily depends on where you have to go, if you can be there faster on a bike than with public transport the bike is the better option most of the time
@@schtormm yeah for sure. I live in Noord, so pretty central. But I was thinking more about the metro to The Hague. Compared to having to take NS, that’s a steal
@@oscarandria in price and convenience yes, but time-wise it takes a bit longer
@@schtormm true. But as a student, im in no rush haha
Missed an opportunity to show the picture of the metro accident where the front car of the metro ended up on a big whale tail statue! Truly one of the best pictures i've ever seen.
Hello RMT. If you’re gonna make a video about The Hague public transport, please ask me to help you with everything! I’m glad to!
I think the biggest thing that will come soon is OVpay. A different way to pay with bank card or smart devices in stead of OV-chipkaart. Some regional business and the national rail service NS already support it in the Rotterdam region.
been waiting for this for a while!
Thanks for watching!
"erasmus brug bridge" is like saying erasmus bridge bridge.
If I my point out an insignificant mistake. At 3:04 you put the name of Den Haag on the wrong area. That’s ‘Westland’, not ‘Den Haag’.
i can't belive so many requested rdam x)
What really should also be mentioned is how in The Netherlands the "last mile" problem is of course completely solved by cycling. Its all a tiered system : bike -> tram/bus/metro -> train -> high speed train/plane or the other way around of course. This system completely replaces the need for a car since it truly provides a door-to-door service. The massive bike parkings and very cheap rental bikes (ov fiets 4 euro per day) are an essential part of this. The metro system therefore does not have to be as dense as for example London or Paris where ideally a station is within walking distance. Walking is only 5km/h while cycling is 15km/h on average.
Schiphol is in theory 24/7 available by rail, but during the night there are only very inefficient trains that only go a few times per night. So it might take a few hours (!) extra getting there compared to getting there during the day
the metro in rotterdam is one of my favorite public transports in the netherlands
Great video. Just out of curiosity can rubber tyred trains can possibly go above 100 miles per hour?
I would say that probably depends on design, I don’t think any of the current systems do
It would defeat the purpose. Steel on steel is smoother and more stable. Rubber tires are more flexible in the sense that they can make tighter turns and inclines but they are also noisier and less stable (which increases with speed). You aren't taking inclines and relatively sharp turns at 100mph...
Rotterdam is simmilar to Warsaw, but Warsaw doesn't have that big of a system. I would love to see a video about Warsaw's metro system.
Some say the Dutch created their nation themselves by engineering precious dry land in the very wet Rhine Delta. This small nation is founded on Calvinist principles and with a can-do mentality. With on average 508.2 people living in each square kilometer, there is no space for ruins or wastelands. Amsterdam is the proud (and arrogant) capital city. It is a magnet for tourists, with many tourist traps and shady activities. Parliament resides in The Hague, a city with a rich history, beach resort Scheveningen and most governmental offices. Rotterdam is a working class city with no palaces or national museums. Bombarded to smithereens on May 14, 1940, the city of Rotterdam decided not to reconstruct the old city, build to design and build a modern new city, with wide boulevards and spacious squares for all types of activities.
From 1975 onwards the city changed the policies on traffic. The Willemsbrug, Coolsingel, Erasmusbrug and Maastunnel process less traffic today, compared with the 1950-75 period. A older plan for a streetcar tunnel, crossing the river Meuse, grew into a bold plan for a first metro line. After a successful start in 1968, some people proposed to replace all tramlines with new metro lines. But financing such a project was an impossibility. Post World War 2 over a dozen new residential areas were built around the old city. These residential areas are very effectively connected by metro lines to the city center.
One aspect is of vital importance; the City of Rotterdam is the economic powerhouse of the whole kingdom of the Netherlands. Rotterdam is the largest and busiest port of Europe. In a circle of 500 kilometer around Rotterdam live over 500 million Europeans (and this includes the world city metropoles of Berlin, Brussels, London and Paris). The are five oil refineries in Rotterdam, making Rotterdam the most prominent European center of energy. Rotterdam is employing many thousands of workers. Many industries contributed to prosperity, and Rotterdam became a strong minded city, that is capable and willing to invest in the future of the city and her inhabitants.
Youvforgot to mention the section of track where freight trains occaisionally run along the metroline.
There are actually some plans to expand the metro network with a completely new line.
This new line should run between Kralingse Zoom on the east-west trunk to Zuidplein on the north-south trunk.
A new tunnel or bridge over the Nieuwe Maas is discussed, to improve connection between the east and south of the city.
However, the debate on this line is still going, and there are also plans to build just a tram line to save costs.
The metro on this portion is definitely needed as it is part of the future ring line, if it ever comes to exist
Din't they also wanted to built a line to Lombardijen at one point
4:05 The naming convention was different, lines D and C were called the "Calandlijn" and "Erasmuslijn". Most likely the all have names like that still, just not on the maps which is how it used to be. My guess is that Rotterdam has gotten a bit more focused on tourism
They where clearly inspired by the New York City Subway
Line E used to only be served by randstad rail which used to have way superior metros than any other line, later all the old metros on the other lines got upgraded seating and a couple years after that they all started using the same metros, the branding at that point stopped making sense and i think the only it still exists is because it costs money to change it and nobody really seems to care, also the old metros used to be shorter, 3 wagons would be about the size of 2 new ones which created more flexibility as they could even go up to 4 wagons long which is still more than they can achieve with the new ones because the metro would be longer than the stations, hence why 2 wagons seems to be the default, they still sometimes take out the old metros though, i think they are stored in Rhoon but they only do that when there are issues with the other ones
The Hoek van Holland line will be very soon openned to the totally New station of Hoek va Holland Strand (the beach)
7:36 while I agree the new metro part of the station is rather nice, the platforms the old suburban line used to use at Den Haag Centraal are completely unused nowadays (they aren't even connected to the rest of the track), which seems a waste to me. If those platforms weren't needed for NS trains, why bother making a whole new bit to the station?
Yeah, the new metro terminus still feels a bit unneccessary. Not to mention that the old platforms were at ground level, making for easier interchanges.
The old platforms will be needed in order to increase train frequency. The line to Rotterdam currently has 3 platforms (platforms 1 to 3), but it will need 4 platforms soon. So all the other trains need to shift down by at least one platform, using the old metro platforms
@@OntarioTrafficMan that would be great to see!
@@kikivoorburg Het plan is naar 10-minuten sprinters Dordrecht - Den Haag CS, 10-minuten intercity's (Vlissingen) - Dordrecht - Leiden - (...), en 30-minuten intercity's Eindhoven - Den Haag CS. Dat zou gebeuren zodra de huidige werkzaamheden in Delft afgerond zijn (hopelijk dit jaar).
@@OntarioTrafficMan Ah, logisch dat het met de werkzaamheden rond Delft te maken heeft. Het plan klinkt erg goed, zeker die 10-minuten intercity’s zouden geweldig zijn! Hopelijk lukt het om het dit jaar af te maken. Bedankt voor de info!
It is funny how you look at the Rotterdam transport system @RMTransit. I grew up in Spijkenisse, where the C and D lines end in the south part. I have seen a lot of the metro lines expand over the years. When I was a child the C line was called Calandline and went from Marconiplein to Capelle a/d IJssel and de D line was the Erasmusline going from the Akkers (where the famous metro landed on the whale tails) to Rotterdam Central Station. I used the metro a lot in my school time and in my opinion the Rotterdam metro line is one of the most clear compared to Paris or NYC.
Can you do a video on the Seoul Metro?
He does have one planned. However we must remember that Seoul Metro and Seoul Metropolitan Subway are two different things. Seoul Metro is just one system on the network. There is also Korail and Incheon Subway
That’s my plan!
Will you do brussels trams one day? :D
How to piss off every Rotterdammer by the 25 second mark.
There is an actual practical use to the 4 bogies setup. In the afternoon they will decouple 1 of the units and return it to the depot, its to ensure to keep maintanance at minimum. The older 3 bogies train rarely get decoupled anymore, however 2 units are always needed because 1 unit only has one cab, so they almost always run 3 units. But in the past they’d run 4, but the newer stations don’t support 4 unit long trains. Only line C and D can in some surcomstances run 4 unit long trains. They don’t ever do this anymore sadly.
It used to be possible to land in Hoek (known in English as Hook of Holland) from the UK and get on a train to anywhere in Europe. Now you just end up on the Rotterdam metro.
The so called boat train stopped running since 2017
@@markdebruyn1212 Exactly. Yet another backward step in sustainable connectivity in Europe. It used to be possible to make seamless train-ferry-train connections in Dover, Calais, Ostend, Hoek etc and the infrastructure and the connections have just about all disappeared (Harwich and Holyhead clinging on)
@@jack2453 Sorry, i that tran actually stopped running in 2007
Been waiting for this one, great video!
Glad you enjoyed!
Let’s go when I saw the SG 3 metro in the thumbnail I was already hyped
The Sheffield Supertram network in the UK also has that split level platform arrangement at Rotherham Centrall station on a recent extension, where low floor tram-trains share track with high floor heavy passenger rail services and freights.
I think limited level crossings, perhaps exclusively at the lower frequency extremities of a light metro network, are OK as long as the general traffic level and its management ensures road vehicles can't block back across the rails, which risks delaying trains even if they can always safely stop clear of such obstructions. Fixed obstacle detection technology using radar or lidar scanners installed at the crossing might enable these to become compatible with future automation of metro driving. In central sections of lines where very high frequency of rail service operates, level crossings are definitely undesirable, not least because their highways would be closed for extended periods, rendering them fairly useless, except perhaps for very low demand access purposes.
Love your videos, you should do a video about the light rail/metro system in Israel, after 18 years!! of waiting the first light rail line is about to be opened in may. The line is part of a bigger plan to build 3 light rail lines and 3 metro lines, I would love to see a video about that.