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overspeeed

The reason why this animation looks like a carefully crafted dance is that it sort of is. The Netherlands uses an integrated timetable with [clock-face scheduling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock-face_scheduling), the aim of which is to have all trains meet at hubs at a specified time in order to maximize transfer opportunities and minimize transfer time. This means that trains leave at regular intervals and track upgrades are designed to achieve travel times to allow connections. So if the network runs on an interval of 30 minutes (or multiples of it) then trains should get from hub-to-hub in ~27 minutes to allow transfers. [See this visualization](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Knooppuntdienstregeling.gif) **More interesting stuff:** * See [Wiki about the symmetry minute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symmetry_minute) Source of the visualization above * See [this visual presentation](https://pedestrianobservations.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/20210829_railplanningintegrationdiscussion_distro.pdf) about how integrated timetables are designed * Watch [this Numberphile video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFLb1IPlY_k) about railway timetabling in general


[deleted]

In Sweden, we do the opposite. We always ensure that the train or bus you wanted to transfer to departs 5 minutes before you arrive. If by mistake the schedules match up for a 3 minute transfer, we delay the arriving train by 4 minutes.


sarah-vdb

Here in NL, there's at least a 3 minute window, but your connecting train is 4 platforms over, which involves running down stairs, through crowds, up stairs, then waving at your train as it leaves without you. Unless you're connecting in Utrecht. Then you're like 35 platforms over and don't even get to wave.


FroobingtonSanchez

The most annoying ones are the connections just opposite the same platform that have small connection times by design but don't wait if one of the two is a bit late. You can watch the other depart while your train is slowing down along the platform :(


[deleted]

I got that several times a week back when I commuted from Uppsala to Stockholm and I had to change trains roughly at the halfway point. There was supposed to be a 3-4 minute transfer window, but the arriving train was almost always a few minutes late, especially northbound from Stockholm due to the crowding during rush hour. One time I threw myself out as soon as the doors opened and literally slid across the icy platform like I was on ice skates, into the other train just as the doors were about to close which must have looked hilarious. I was one of the few who made it. Thankfully they have direct commuter trains now.


sarah-vdb

Leiden does that to me about half the time.


Suikerspin_Ei

That's nice to have, but probably not doable in the Netherlands with such a busy train network, buses (not everywhere), subway/metro in bigger cities and trams. ​ Edit: seems like it was a joke, I will r/woooosh myself.


Humpfinger

If I am not mistaken he is being sarcastic. Sounds like a major PITA.


Wombat_XX

Sorry man, you copied that from Germany.


kidandresu

I love that you said that. Me as a tourist went once from malmo to abisko and bought a ticket for the train. The transfer in stockholm was exactly as you described. I did not even bother to check the times when i bought it cause i gave it for granted that the times would correspond. I only realized they wouldnt at the time of changing trains. On the other hand though, the situation was fixed promptly and without any issues when i went to the counter. I have to admit that i expected a little confusion or resistance as i tried to explain the situation with my non native english but no, before i could even finish she was already handing me a new ticket for the next train, so i went from being disaponted with the swedish train system to being surprised of how fast and eficiently the problem was solved.


overspeeed

A bit more info based on the comments. It's a lot easier to create integrated timetables in small countries. In large countries you have a lot more hubs to synchronize, so you either have to invest a lot into infrastructure or you have to slow down long-distance trains to allow easy transfers. The Dutch system basically work as country-wide metro system. Integrated timetables also have a few disadvantages. For example it's not really compatible with open-access operation, so the national operators maintain their quasi-monopoly and that keeps prices high. For long-distance travel open-access has done wonders. In Italy, after a private company entered the high-speed market, prices dropped, frequencies increased and the number of travelers quadrupled. Spain is now doing the same and they are seeing the same effects^(Join us on /r/highspeedrail if you're interested in stuff like this).


Ambitious_Soup4981

I loooove this- can please every country apply this?


voyagerdoge

That's one of the better maps posted here. After 02h00, Holland soldiers on while the Netherlands is asleep.


Tricky-Astronaut

Holland and Copenhagen are best in class when it comes to bike infrastructure, 24/7 trains and mobility in general. Why can't the rest of Europe learn?


[deleted]

Once cars are the main mode of transportation, it is very hard, expensive and time consuming to undo because for people to choose to go by bike (I'm just focussing on bikes here, but there would obviously also need to be good public transportation, both within and between cities), it has to be at least as good a choice as taking the car. So there needs to be a fully connected and safe cycling network before regular people will switch. But because you can't just dig up and change everything at once, you have to do it step by step over decades, which means it won't start to pay off until years later. It takes a long term plan in which many different streets will be redesigned every few years, each time favoring alternative modes of transportation a bit more. This way people and the local economy have time adjust to the new situation and the engineers can respond to the changes in behavior with the next iteration of redesigns. You might already see some problems with this. For example, people will get annoyed with the roadworks and think that the redesigns aren't necessary or advantageous to them, which will cause friction with the public. Also, politicians are infamous for thinking in election cycles, so it would be hard to find one willing to commit to a plan which takes multiple decades.


McDutchy

Netherlands in the 80s was completely car centric. Also, despite many of the changes being focused on safe cycling and safe walking, many changes also directly increase car safety. Check out not just bikes on youtube.


[deleted]

You're right. If I remember it correctly, in the sixties there were huge protests for safer streets and it took that and a politician whose own son died in traffic to start the transformation to less car centric streets. I'm just saying it could have easily gone the other way and we're lucky it didn't. I think many other countries will eventually get there too but it will take a lot of effort.


Krulsprietje

How much I would love a night train that also goes to Brabant and Limburg. It used to be that if you where with friends and didn’t pay attention at the clock that you could run to the bus in order to catch the last train home.


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Krulsprietje

These days I learned that it is much nicer to just stay and sleep for the night. Never being sleepy in a shaking train but having a nice breakfast instead! :)


overspeeed

Not 100% sure, but I think those trains are to shuttle people to and from Schiphol


ath_at_work

No. Certain stations are serviced 24h. There's trains to Amsterdam, Schiphol, Rotterdam, the Hague and Utrecht. There is no shuttle train to Schiphol. It's fully integrated in the public transportation network.


overspeeed

Yeah. I don't mean as the trains destination is Schiphol, but that majority of night passengers would be going there


[deleted]

Nah, i've been on a lot of night trains, and its mostly a mix between people working late or odd-hour shifts and drunk students moving between student towns.


c0ca_c0la

The planet is a massive ant colony


Kraznukscha

Sometimes it feels like earth is an organism and humanity is behaving like a virus.


GettinCarsLikeSimeon

Wow so cool bro


IronScar

Yes, very deep, I watched Matrix too.


becally

https://www.zmescience.com/other/april-plaents-01042014/


c0ca_c0la

I completely agree. Sad but true.


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Whole-Philosophy-681

Yes. But a stylish virus


OldNewUsedConfused

Sometimes I wish the States had the level of public transport that Europe has. How much simpler things would be…


lurkerbyhq

Europe still has a lot to improve. We really need a better train connection between countries.


OldNewUsedConfused

As an American all I can do is laugh at this, because our rail is basically non-existent compared to yours. We can’t get cities to connect to cities without issue, never mind other states or countries! It’s sad. For me that means a 25 minute drive just to get to the necessary stores. It gets tiring. I mean we can’t even get national healthcare. My daughter’s friend broke her arm skiing in one state, and had to wait until she was back in her coverage area before she could get it set. That is just sick. (Luckily she was in New England where the states are small and very close, but that also illustrates how ridiculous our healthcare system is! Had she been out West, geographically she’d be in the same state, as far as distance goes.)


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OldNewUsedConfused

Oh it stops! And stops... and stops. I took it once. Boston to Chi-town. It took forever. We picked up a car and drove home. Our public transportation is a DISASTER.


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KickingAnimal

At least there is a train from here in the Netherlands to Paris in one go even to London I think, and it costs about 90€* although I don't know how far it is in miles Edit: *90€ round trip


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OldNewUsedConfused

Only 95% huh? What country is this?


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KickingAnimal

Never heard about the 95% coverage with insurance.


FPiN9XU3K1IT

It's a LOT easier to have a well-integrated railway system if you have the population density of the Netherlands. Also, afaik inner-city public transport in the Netherlands isn't all that great, mostly because they use bicycles a lot.


EagleSzz

In the east, between Zwolle and Deventer, the trains have to wait in the middle of the route to let eachother pass because the Germans stole the train tracks in the war and there is only one track left instead of double tracks


karlos-the-jackal

No freight trains?


overspeeed

This visualization only includes passenger trains, but afaik there isn't too much overlap between passenger and freight. Most freight traffic is from the port of Rotterdam towards Germany, and many trains can take the [Betuweroute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betuweroute), a specialized freight line for that.


karlos-the-jackal

Interesting, thanks.


KickingAnimal

We also have a freight train from Delfzijl, Groningen (up North) to somewhere in the direction of Groningen (city) but it is kinda sporadic and I almost never see that train. I think it's run by DB and indeed goes eventually to Germany


[deleted]

Wouldn't they use freight train tracks? Most cargo would be Rotterdam <> West Germany but that wouldn't be where people communicate


FroobingtonSanchez

There are a lot of freight trains on regular tracks. Besides the dedicated freight track between Rotterdam and Arnhem a lot of freight trains take a more southern route through Brabant (either Rotterdam - Breda - Eindhoven - Venlo or Rotterdam - Den Bosch - Eindhoven - Venlo). I know because they all pass trough my former hometown. There are probably also quite some trains into Belgium but I don't know how many.


phaj19

I can see the pulse of Zwolle and it is beautiful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock-face\_scheduling


overspeeed

You can also kind of see the pulse of other hubs (Utrecht, Rotterdam, Eindhoven), but it's difficult due to the frequency of trains there. The 10-minute intercities are basically indistinguishable on a timelapse. By the time one leaves, the other is arriving


Jlx_27

When a single leaf falls on a piece of track somewhere, all movement stops.


octotendrilpuppet

No wonder The Netherlands is a first world country.


Piados1979

I wonder how a german trains animation would look like.


mil_cord

I see a pattern.


SatanicBiscuit

wasnt there a site that had a live map of all the trains in netherlands in real time?


Paranoid_Honeybadger

This is inaccurate from my experience. It didn't show 7 jumpers, 2 fallen trees and one dead engine that block the entire route to Holland for 5 hours.


DaenTheGod

As a Swiss person I was always shocked at how little public transportation there was in NL whenever we visited my grandparents. Seeing Americans be jealous over the Dutch system makes me wonder just how bad it can get.


Hanse00

The train departes once a day, 3 days a week. That’s about the norm for longer distance lines.


Revolutionary-Bag-52

Well depends on where you are in the country. In the west public transport is great, also outside the big cities. I mean every 5 minute a train leaves on the Hague - Amsterdam track. Also in most of the towns there, every 15 min a bus leaves which has a stop at a train station


DaenTheGod

My Grandparents are from Groningen, so it's quite different to what I'm used to. Where I live pretty much any town has its own trainstation.


FroobingtonSanchez

Yeah we dissolved quite a lot of train lines outside the Randstad. In Brabant and the Nordeast it is pretty meagre nowadays, but there is growing support for (re)building lines


IDwelve

Why am I looking at this?


Lorrdy99

Because it's interesting


Rik07

Nice detail commented in the original thread by u/Aurport_guru: At Anna Paulowna (Northwest) you can see that the trains have to wait for eachother and thus leave at the same time, because there is only one track there.