Essim Railway

The Essim railway is a heavy rail network with lines to Simvliet and Hageningen. Essim Centraal is the biggest station in the network.

Network

The network consists of two lines, one from Simvliet to Essim Zuid and one from Hageningen to Essim Oostvliegers. Between Essim Markt and Essim Centraal the two lines run parallel. A flying junction at Essim Centraal allows trains to switch over to the other line. At Kaapdorp there is a short branch line to Kaapdorp Haven. For freight trains there is a track connecting Essim Noord and Essim Campus so freight trains out of Simvliet can head to the east without having to reverse at Essim.

The Hageningen to Essim Oostvliegers line has four tracks between Essim West and Essim Oostvliegers, separating local trains from the fast and intercity services. All other sections are dual track. There are tailtracks at Essim West and Essim Oostvliegers allowing local trains to reverse.

Services

There is an intercity service from Simvliet to Hageningen calling only at Essim Centraal, and a fast service from Simvliet to Hageningen calling at Delfsblaak, Essim Centraal and Kaapdorp. Both services have two trains per hour, the fast service runs all day and the intercity only between 6:30 and 21:00. During the weekend the intercity service starts later.

In addition, there are local sprinter services from Simvliet to Essim Zuid and from Hageningen to Essim Oostvliegers, calling at all stations. These services have four trains per hour during weekdays between 7:00 and 19:00 and two trains per hour outside these times. Between Essim West and Essim Oostvliegers the service is increased to eight trains per hour between 7:00 and 19:00, two of which terminate at Essim West and the other two continue to Kaapdorp Haven. Finally, there is a shuttle service between Kaapdorp Haven and Kaapdorp.

Freight

The railway also features freight trains. There are freight terminals at Essim Zuid, Kaapdorp Haven, Simvliet Industrie and Zeerwijk Industrie. To reach the terminal at Zeerwijk, the freight trains will have to drive over the Simvliet Lightrail for a short distance. At Simvliet Industrie there is a track connecting the heavy rail line with the lightrail. At Simvliet Haven there is a former freight terminal, now mostly unused, which can be reached only by reversing at Simvliet Industrie.

Freight trains run an irregular service, typically on each line there is room for two trains per hour but not all of these paths are actually filled. Also, some freight paths are only available off-peak, for examples the ones to Zeerwijk.