Dutch to spend €7.5 billion boosting railway, roadway infrastructure; Schiphol metro planned

The Cabinet laid out plans for 7.5 billion euros in infrastructure spending that includes 4 billion euros to improve rail service, and 2.7 billion euros for roads. The majority of this money will be spent in the Randstad region and Noord-Brabant, according to plans that the Cabinet sent to the Tweede Kamer on Monday. Included in the project is the money needed to extend the Noord/Zuidlijn, a metro line running from Amsterdam-Noord to the city’s Station Zuid, to give people another connection to Hoofddorp and Schiphol Airport.

The Cabinet is spending heavily on the necessary infrastructure projects to serve newly constructed residential areas. The Cabinet wants to build more than 900,000 new homes by 2030, most of which will be in the Randstad region. About 65 percent of the money will be spent in the Randstad.

In Zuid-Holland, more than 1.5 billion euros will go to improving stations and the railroad between Leiden and Dordrecht. Around 77,000 homes will be built along this route through 2040. For Rotterdam, the province’s largest city, 625 million euros will be earmarked for new river crossings, including bridges.

In Noord-Holland, the government is investing in will spend money on the Zuidasdok at the Amsterdam Zuid station, the A10 ring road, and the completion of the metro ring in Amsterdam, which theoretically would make the Haven-Stad more accessible by extending the subway from Isolatorweg past the new district to Central Station.

As announced last year, the Amsterdam Noord/Zuidlijn will also be extended from Station Zuid to Schiphol and Hoofddorp. This has been lobbied as a critical piece of infrastructure that can boost regional transportation not just to the airport, but for the west side of the Amsterdam region as a whole.

The national government will spend 4.1 billion euros on the Amsterdam metropolitan region alone. Other parties will also need to commit another 1.3 billion euros. The region expects to be home to 270,000 new jobs to be created by 2050, which means that more infrastructure will be needed. By that year, the region also wants to have constructed 325,000 additional homes.

In Noord-Brabant, more than 800 million euros will go to the Brainport Eindhoven region. There must be a so-called "multimodal hub" with "enough space for the growing number of travelers by bus, bicycle and train.”

Investments are also being made further outside the Randstad region, including 30 million euros earmarked for a better rail connection between Enschede and Münster, and 150 million euros will go to the RegioExpres in Gelderland. This shortens the travel time between Winterswijk and Arnhem by thirteen minutes. For those passengers connecting to the Randstad, the travel time will be cut by 26 minutes.

The plans do not yet state how the situation will progress with the Lelylijn. It was already agreed that 3 billion euros would be committed to the project, but it is still unknown where the train route will be placed. It must connect Groningen and Lelystad, and stop at stations in Drachten, Heerenveen and Emmeloord.

The Cabinet is also allocating more money for cycling infrastructure. With a total of 780 million euros, the government wants to build more biking routes and bicycle parking facilities. There will also be new tunnels and bridges for cyclists and pedestrians.