Ringspoorbaan or ''ring railway'' is a railway line in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, consisting of a south-eastern branch Zuidtak, and a western branch Westtak. A number of metro lines also connect stations on the Ringspoorbaan.

History

While inchoate plans for the ring had been in place for many decades, parts of it, including several bridges, were built during the recession of the 1930s, when dikes were constructed to provide employment opportunities. However, the ring railway became truly feasible after the

Schiphol Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport (, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands, and is one of the major hubs for the SkyTeam airline alliance. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipal ...

line opened in 1978. This line provided limited connectivity to

Amsterdam RAI railway station Amsterdam RAI ( Dutch: ''Rijwiel en Automobiel Industrie'') is a railway station situated in southern Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is located between the two directions of the A10 Amsterdam ring road. It is also a metro station at which GVB run ...

, but there was a need to connect to central Amsterdam. The southern segment (Zuidtak) connecting to

Weesp railway station Weesp station is a railway station in Weesp, Netherlands. The station has two island platforms and a total of six tracks, two of which are used for passing trains. The Schiphollijn, Flevolijn and Gooilijn meet at Weesp making it an important t ...

became operational in 1993. In 1995, with the completion of the Westtak, direct movement became possible from Schiphol to

Amsterdam Centraal Amsterdam Centraal station ( ; abbreviation: Asd) is the largest railway station in Amsterdam, North Holland, the Netherlands. A major international railway hub, it is used by 192,000 passengers a day, making it the second busiest railway stati ...

. The Ringspoorbaan was also used for handling traffic to the south. However, with the opening of the

Utrechtboog The Utrechtboog is a flyover railway line in the south-east of Amsterdam, completed in March 2006, that directly connects Utrecht and Schiphol. After completion, it reduced journey times between the two by seven minutes. Prior to its constructio ...

(

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 ...

arc) connection in 2006, some of the functionality of the Zuidtak Ringspoorbaan was diluted, and services were reduced to some junctions such as

Duivendrecht Duivendrecht () is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Ouder-Amstel, and lies about 6 km southeast of Amsterdam’s city centre. It is a suburb of Amsterdam. History The village was first m ...

References

{{Reflist Railway lines in the Netherlands