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Leeuwarden - Stavoren Line
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Prorail
Locale	Netherlands
Termini	Leeuwarden railway station Stavoren railway station
Service
System	ATB-NG
Operator(s)	Arriva
History
Opened	Leeuwarden - Sneek: 16 june 1883 Sneek - Stavoren: 8 november 1885
Technical
Line length	50.2 km (31.2 mi)
Number of tracks	1
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	No
Operating speed	100 km/h (Leeuwarden-Mantgum 130 km/h)

The Leeuwarden - Stavoren Line was constructed by the government as part of the third state construction of railways in the Netherlands. The railway, which connects Leeuwarden with Stavoren, was put into use between 1883 and 1885.

While it was an important national link at the time, today it is one of the Northern Ancillary Lines, operated like the others by Arriva with Spurt trainsets.

History

The rline was built to connect a number of places in the Frisian Southwest corner. The main reason, however, was the ferry connection to Enkhuizen. This waterway connection was put into service on 15 July 1886, a year after the opening of the Zaandam - Enkhuizen railway line. This created a new travel option between Amsterdam and Leeuwarden. The only problem was that the railway line between Leeuwarden and Stavoren, like most State lines, was operated by the State Railways and the railway line on the other side of the then Zuiderzee by the HIJSM. In 1890, the operation on various railway lines was redistributed and the HIJSM was also assigned the operation on the Leeuwarden - Stavoren railway line. With this, the company set foot on Frisian soil for the first time. The connection to the ferry services could then be improved and the connection formed good competition with the connection of the SS via the Central Railway.

The ferry service was made suitable for the transport of freight wagons in 1899. Due to the success of the connection, three ferries were used for freight transport from 1909. Passenger transport also eventually took place with three ships. Due to the intensified cooperation between the railway companies and the opening of the Afsluitdijk, the importance of the connection quickly disappeared in the 1930s. Freight transport by ferries ended on April 1, 1936. The passenger ferries continued to sail, but were no longer operated by the NS itself. The Leeuwarden - Stavoren railway line became a regional branch line.

The section between Leeuwarden and Stavoren was fitted with a locally operated relay block system (TPRB) in 1975.

Stations and other buildings

In Leeuwarden, the existing station built on state lines A and B are still in use. Sneek and Workum had large station buildings when the lined opened. Both stations had many similarities. Given its function as a transfer station and the importance of the railway, Stavoren had a very large station building.

Mantgum station was provided with a small standard station building similar to those of Loppersum, Bozum, IJlst, Oudega and Hindeloopen. The Jellum-Boxum and Koudum-Molkwerum stations had an even smaller version of this building.

In 1938, except for Sneek, all stations and stops between Leeuwarden and Workum were closed. That year, Koudum-Molkwerum station would also be closed. During the Second World War, most stations were temporarily reopened, often for only a few months, because of the fuel shortage. Koudum-Molkwerum station stayed open. In 1958 most the station building would be replaced by a new station building of the standard type Velsen-Zeeweg. That year, the former station building of Bozum would be demolished.

Replacement and reopenings

In the 1960s and 1970s, a large number of sidings were simplified or removed and the NS replaced a large number of old station buildings. The old buildings have often become too expensive due to their size and state of maintenance, most buildings weren't efficient to use. The Leeuwarden - Stavoren railway line was thoroughly cleaned. In 1973 the station buildings of Workum, Hindeloopen and Stavoren were demolished. The new station building of Koudum-Molkwerum couldn't escape demolition either. Unlike many other stations, except for a heated shelters, no replacement new buildings would be constructed on the vacant locations. Also in 1973 the former station buildings of Mantgum and Oudega would also be demolished. That same year, the station of Mantgum reopened and a new suburban stop Sneek Noord would be opened in Sneek.

In 1985 trains would stop again at IJlst. The new stop is a few hundred meters north of the site of the old station whose building was demolished in 1954.

Timetable

After the importance of the ferry service disappeared in the 1930s, the Leeuwarden - Stavoren railway line was downgraded from a national main line to a regional branch line. From then on, the train service across the Frisian countryside wasn't as important. For a long time, an hourly service was used between Leeuwarden and Sneek. A large part of the trains also continued to Stavoren. From the introduction of the consistent timetable at Spoorslag '70, an hourly service ran between Leeuwarden and Stavoren. During rush hours, a number of extra trains ran between Leeuwarden and Sneek. After the (re)opening of the Mantgum and Sneek Noord stations, a half-hourly service between Leeuwarden and Sneek was introduced. The shuttle trains between Leeuwarden and Sneek would no longer run on Sundays from May 1977 onwards.

In 1997 the prototype train set Talent was tested in the train service Leeuwarden - Sneek on behalf of Talbot.

Since 1999 the train service has been provided by NoordNed. In 2003 Arriva Personenvervoer Nederland takes over all shares in this company and from 2005 the NoordNed brand name disappears. The timetable was changed at the end of 2006 and all train would leave fifteen minutes earlier than before.

From 13 December 2010 there were three trains per hour between Leeuwarden and Sneek on Monday to Friday.

The Frisian Steam Train Company (FStM) had plans to start running tourist steam trains between Sneek and Stavoren from 2012. Due to the bankruptcy of FStM on 2 November 2011, those plans were not realized.

Trains used

For a long time, the regional railway lines around Leeuwarden mainly used steam traction. It was not until 1954 diesel-electric streamline multiple units were introduced between Leeuwarden and Stavoren. From that year onwards, the DE 1 motor units and DE 2 units would run the services.

The new Wadlopers units were developed as a solution for the relatively expensive exploitation of the unprofitable branchlines in the north. At the beginning of 1983, these Multiple units were used on the service between Leeuwarden and Stavoren. Even after the takeover of the operation by NoordNed and Arriva, the Wadlopers will continue to operate on the line. Arriva has been using the so-called Spurt units on the line since 2007.

Indicents and accidents

On 25 July 2010, a Speno rail grinding train ran through a set of buffer in Stavoren. The train then continued 80 meters, pushing an empty tanker ahead. with that tanker and the derailed train a 30-meter-wide hole was punched right through a watersports shop. Two people suffered minor injuries in this accident. Not the Italian driver of the train but the Dutch supervisor would be prosecuted for this accident. Initially, the Public Prosecution Service reported that it would prosecute the driver, but came back to it. Research by the Korps landelijke politiediensten (KLPD) showed that there was more wrong with the railway section. Railway manager ProRail withdrew the permit of the company Spoorflex that supplied security guards for work trains for at least four weeks.

Photos

• 
  Station Leeuwarden

Also see

• Rail transport in the netherlands
• Koningin Wilhelmina (Ship)(Dutch)

Category:Steam locomotives Category:Rolling stock of the Netherlands Category:Steam locomotives of the Netherlands