Netherlands is short billions of euros needed for Groningen to Randstad railway line

The Cabinet is still billions of euros short of the amount needed to complete the Lelylijn, a planned passenger rail route connecting Groningen and possibly Leeuwarden to the Randstad region. Around three billion euros has been reserved for the railway project, but depending on the final route that the Cabinet chooses, it will cost between 8 and 21.4 billion euros to complete. Another project serving the northern provinces may also be in jeopardy.

The most likely option would cost 13.8 million euros, Infrastructure State Secretary Chris Jansen said on Monday to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament. That figure excludes maintenance costs.

Options that the Cabinet is considering for obtaining the remaining money include requests to the European Union (EU) and the regions served by the rail line. However, calling for EU money will likely only be possible from 2028 during the next multiyear budget "because the current budget is almost fully exhausted."

The Nedersaksenlijn also appears "significantly more expensive than initially thought," Jansen reported. This is a planned passenger rail route between the city of Groningen and the eastern cities of Emmen and Almelo.

The construction of these train connections is considered essential by the Cabinet. The national government wants to ensure that the regions are better connected to the rest of the Netherlands.

"I will, therefore, discuss with the regions, the Tweede Kamer, and my colleagues in the Cabinet about how we can best continue working on these two great projects and what sensible next steps are with the limited resources we have," Jansen wrote.