The municipality of Utrecht wants to build two new tram lines and a new train station on the southeast side of the city in the coming years. The municipality and the province are asking 2.1 billion from the National Growth Fund. Public transport investments are intended to reduce car traffic and the pressure on bus lines.
The municipality of Utrecht will present the mobility plans next week.
According to the plans, the existing Utrecht Lunetten station will be converted into an intercity station and expanded with a platform on the railway line towards Arnhem. This should relieve Utrecht Centraal, because travelers will travel between the southeast of the city and Gelderland and Noord-Brabant via the new intercity station.
Tramplannen
In addition, the tram network in the southwest of the city must be expanded, including the so-called Merwede line. That must be the car-free new housing estate Merwede, where 10,000 homes are planned. The recently completed tram line to Utrecht Science Park, formerly De Uithof, must also be extended to Zeist.
Last year, a lobby group of 25 traffic and transport organizations advocated an underground tram under the city center, but that proposal does not seem to be reflected in the plans.
The development of the Uithoflijn was accompanied by delays and significant cost overruns. The initially estimated costs of EUR 312 million rose to more than half a billion. With that would the line is one of the most expensive tram lines per meter in the world. A critical investigation report showed that the municipality and province were not cooperating well and that the city council was not sufficiently informed.
More public transport plans
The National Growth Fund has been established by the ministers Wiebes (Economic Affairs) and Hoekstra (Finance) called in life to strengthen the infrastructure of the Netherlands, among other things. Ultimately, 20 billion euros will become available. An independent committee must assess which plans should receive the money, after which the cabinet has the final say.
Various cities and regions are developing (infrastructure) plans for which the growth fund can be used. This is what the departing Amsterdam traffic alderman Sharon Dijksma hopes billions from the fund for expansion of the metro network. Also for a new railway between Groningen and Lelystad to the fund looked.
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