HSL-Zuid

HSL-Zuid
Route of the HSL-Zuid
Overview
Owner	ProRail
Locale	North Holland, South Holland and North Brabant,  Netherlands
Service
Operator(s)	Nederlandse Spoorwegen NS International Thalys Eurostar
History
Opened	7 September 2009
Technical
Line length	125 km (78 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	25 kV 50 Hz AC overhead
Operating speed	300 km/h (186 mph)
Signalling	ETCS Level 2, ETCS Level 1 (fallback)
Route map Legend Line from Amsterdam and Schiphol 47.7 Hoofddorp Line to Leiden Ringvaart 29.3 River Oude Rijn Line Leiden–Woerden 22.6 15.5 Line Den Haag–Gouda Line Den Haag–Rotterdam 5.2 2.8 Line Hoek van Holland–Gouda 0.0 Line from Den Haag Line from Utrecht Centraal 0.0 Rotterdam Centraal Rotterdam Blaak River Nieuwe Maas Rotterdam Zuid Rotterdam Stadion Rotterdam Lombardijen Freight line to Europoort Barendrecht Line to Breda River Oude Maas River Dordtsche Kil River Hollands Diep Line from Rotterdam 34 Line to Breda 42.5 Line Roosendaal–Breda 54.5 84.0 Border Netherlands / Belgium HSL 4 to Antwerp and Paris

The HSL-Zuid (Dutch: Hogesnelheidslijn Zuid, English: South high-speed line), is a 125 kilometre-long (78 mile) Dutch high-speed railway line running between the Amsterdam metropolitan area and the Belgian border, with a branch to Breda, North Brabant. Together with the Belgian HSL 4 it forms the Schiphol–Antwerp high-speed railway. Originally scheduled to be in service by 2007, the first public operations began on 7 September 2009, after a ceremony on 6 September.^[1]

Intercity Direct operates between Amsterdam and Breda, for the time being with conventional Intercity carriages and TRAXX locomotives. On 13 December 2009 Thalys began services from Amsterdam to Paris and Brussels on the HSL-Zuid. On 4 April 2018 the first scheduled Eurostar connected Amsterdam to London via the HSL-Zuid.

Talks about a high-speed line between Amsterdam and the Belgian border started under Prime Minister Joop den Uyl (1973–1977); work began during Wim Kok's first term (1998–2002). The Rijkswaterstaat, a government agency under the authority of the Ministry of Transport and Water Management, was responsible for the organisation of the project. The Government of the Netherlands awarded the country's largest ever public-private partnership (PPP) contract to the consortium Infraspeed until 2030; it is responsible for design, construction, financing and maintenance. The line features state-of-the-art technology, including ETCS L2 train control systems provided by Siemens AG and Alcatel (activities now part of Thales), and will be an ERTMS 2.3.0 Corridor.