442.The Man in Blue ~ Rotterdam – Den Haag

From Zuidplein to Rotterdam Centraal Station

From Rotterdam to Den Haag

Travelling by public transport from Vlissingen to Rotterdam is usually by train, and similarly when travelling from Rotterdam to Den Haag the train is the norm. But I liked my trip by bus and coach going from island to island via dikes, bridges and tunnel and I liked my trip by RandstadRail from Rotterdam to Den Haag.

The Randstad is the densely populated area between Rotterdam, Den Haag, Amsterdam and Utrecht. The RandstadRail project connects a suburban railway line to the east of Den Haag with the Den Haag tram system, using tram-trains, and connects a suburban railway line from Den Haag to Rotterdam with the Rotterdam Metro system.

Rotterdam Metro and RandstadRail to Den Haag

The tram-trains in the Den Haag area are running and passengers travel from the suburbs into central Den Haag without changing. In Rotterdam the RandstadRail metros leave from the Central Station through a new tunnel to connect with the suburban line to Den Haag CS. Eventually the RandstadRail metros will leave from metro station Slinge and run to Den Haag via Zuidplein and Rotterdam CS.

 The two services share the same tracks in the Den Haag area between Leidseveen and Den Haag NOI, which is also served by Netherlands’ Railways (NS). See the diagram on one of the pictures that illustrate this article.     

After arriving by coach at Zuidplein I took the metro to Central Station where I took some pictures and got a RandstadRail metro to Den Haag. The trip was very pleasant, we ran on schedule and the train had seats that were sufficiently comfortable for the relatively short journey (about 30 minutes). 

RandstadRail Metro E to Den Haag CS
From Leidseveen to Den Haag NOI shared tracks & stations with Tram-Trains into the city centre

From Zuidplein to Rotterdam Centraal the metro runs about 8 times an hour, from there to Den Haag 4 times an hour. In the Netherlands there are usually good connections and easy transfers between trains, metro, tram and bus or coach.  

The bus, coach and metros to Den Haag were punctual, but when later in the week I went from Den Haag to Amsterdam, Amersfoort and Antwerpen all my trains were running behind schedule.

From Den Haag Central Station I took tram 6 from the high tram and RandstadRail tram-train platform to Hobbemaplein, near the house of my friend Jatinder Singh.   

 Den Haag Central Station. The RandstadRail metro uses one of the platforms of mainline rail station.
The Tram-Trains have platforms on a higher level, from where they continue into Den Haag.   

UK trains are not designed for long legged gents like me, in Belgium and the Netherlands even ordinary IC or semi-direct trains offer more legroom than long distance Virgin or East Coast trains.

In the Netherlands ProRail looks after tracks and stations and NS after the train operation. This has increased the number of closures of sections of the track exponentially. Some of the rural lines are now operated by the same companies that run the buses in those regions and this seems to be quite successful.  

441.The Man in Blue – Vlissingen ~ Goes ~ Zierikzee ~ Rotterdam

Double-decker intercity at Goes station

No stories about family members this time, just a description of my wonderful journey ! Cousin Marie drove me the short distancefrom her house to Vlissingen – Oost Souburg station in her car. We went early as I wanted to buy an OV Chipkaart from the ticket machine at the station. The OV-Chipkaart is like a national version of the London Oystercard, valid on all Dutch public transport systems.

Goes bus station next to rail station 

At Vlissingen station I took an intercity double-decker train to Goes, which only took about 20 minutes. In Goes I changed to Connexxions bus 132 to Zierikzee via the Zeelandbrug. There was a little wait but the bus left on time. Dutch buses are more comfortable than UK ones and Dutch roads have fewer potholes.

Goes is on the former Island of Zuid Beveland, connected to Walcheren to the west and the province of Noord Brabant to the east. To go to Zierikzee on Schouwen-en-Duiveland we first crossed to Noord Beveland via the short Zandkreek dike and from Noord Beveland to Zierikzee via the five kilometre long Zeeland bridge. The bad news was that due to fog I could not enjoy the view of the Oosterschelde.

This is where we are going : Zierikzee Sas 

Zierikzee has a proper bus station, but it also has a station used mostly just by people wanting to change to other bus and coach services. That station is called Sas, and there I got off to change to Interliner coach 395 to Rotterdam Zuidplein.

Sas : Interliner coach stop 

This is an express service stopping once only, but otherwise runs non-stop to Rotterdam Zuidplein. From Schouwen-en-Duiveland we went to the island of Goeree-Overflakkee (province of Zuid Holland) over the Grevelingen dike. Halfway there is a junction from where the Philips dike takes you to Noord Brabant.

We went non-stop past Oude Tonge bus station and then crossed the Haringvliet via the Hellegats dike and the Haringvliet bridge. Before going on to the bridge there again is a junction in the middle of what used to be a wide estuary subject to ebb and flood, which connects to Noord Brabant.

On the other side of the Haringvliet we were on the last island (Voorne Putte) of this trip, which we left through the Heinenoord tunnel, to the north of which you are very near to Rotterdam’s Zuidplein, a major interchange between the Rotterdam Metro and local and long distance buses.

The trip was very smooth and comfortable. We left Goes at 11.33 and arrived a couple of minutes early at Zierikzee from where the Interliner coach left on time (12.00) to arrive a bit early (12.450 at Rotterdam Zuidplein. Why the coach did not stop at the Oude Tonge bus station on Goeree-Overflakkee, which is next to the motorway, I cannot understand. The company must like running empty vehicles.

From Zuidplein I continued by Metro line D to Rotterdam Central Station and from there by RandstadRail metro E to Den Haag Centraal and finally by Tram 6 to the Hobbemaplein, near to where Jatinder Singh lives. To be continued.

Rotterdam Zuidplein Metro Station