Harmelen is a town in the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

province of

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

. It is a part of the municipality of

Woerden Woerden () is a city and a municipality in central Netherlands. Due to its central location between Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht, and the fact that it has rail and road connections to those cities, it is a popular town for commu ...

, and lies about 6 km east of Woerden. In 2001, the town of Harmelen had 6557 inhabitants. The built-up area of the town was 1.11 km², and contained 2481 residences.Statistics Netherlands (CBS), ''Bevolkingskernen in Nederland 2001'

. Statistics are for the continuous built-up area. Harmelen is on the railway line between Utrecht (city), Utrecht and Woerden; its train station was opened on 21 May 1855 and closed on 15 May 1936.Stationsweb.nl
/ref> In 1962, two passenger trains collided near Harmelen. The

Harmelen train disaster The Harmelen train disaster, on 8 January 1962, was the worst railway accident in the history of the Netherlands. Harmelen, in the central Netherlands, is the location of a railway junction where a branch to Amsterdam leaves the Rotterdam to U ...

, resulting in 93 fatalities, was the largest train accident in Dutch history. The village used to be a separate municipality, until it merged with Woerden in 2001. Before the merger the municipality of Harmelen had about 8000 inhabitants.

Notable people born in Harmelen

Ellen van Dijk Eleonora Maria "Ellen" van Dijk (; born 11 February 1987) is a Dutch professional Road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's Team, UCI Women's WorldTeam . Besides road cycling she was also a track cycling, tr ...

, (born 1987) – professional racing cyclist * Dico Koppers, (born 1992) – soccerplayer by

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

* Theo de Rooij, (born 1957) – former racing cyclist and manager of the Rabobank cycling team * James Cornelius van Miltenburg, (born 1909) – first Archbishop of Karachi

References

Municipalities of the Netherlands disestablished in 2001 Populated places in Utrecht (province) Former municipalities of Utrecht (province) Woerden {{Utrecht-geo-stub