The national government, the Province of North Brabant, and the municipality of ’s-Hertogenbosch have reached an agreement. All parties together now have the funds to renovate Bosch Central Station and its surroundings, totaling €393 million. This accelerates the long-held ambition for a better connected and livable city. The outcomes of the recent administrative consultation also give a strong boost to the Spoorzone, the A2 highway, and the mobility approach for South Netherlands.

Milestone for Bosch Central

Together with earlier commitments from the national government and additional contributions from the municipality and province, there is now a complete financing of €393 million for the renewal of the Bosch Central public transport hub and the station area. The collaborating parties, NS, ProRail, Province of North Brabant, and the municipality of ’s-Hertogenbosch, can now complete the exploration phase and then start the design phase. This includes the station itself as well as the station squares, bicycle parking, and the new bus station.

Rick Vermin, alderman for Bosch Central: “I am very happy about this. With the new station, we can accommodate the growth of the municipality and the region well. By renewing the station surroundings, we take a big step towards our ambitions for the broad city center, and Bosch Central will become the beautiful entrance to the city: an important hub between the historic city center, the Paleiskwartier, and the yet-to-be-built Stadsdelta.

These city districts strengthen each other and connect into a modern city. The new station will guarantee comfortable travel for residents from our city and region, on the important Eindhoven – Amsterdam rail axis. I am proud to present this proposal to the council to actually realize the station.”

Brabant

“This is not only great news for our capital but for all of Brabant,” says deputy Stijn Smeulders.

“Den Bosch is by far the busiest transfer station in our province. A place where thousands of people arrive, depart, or continue their journey by bus or bike every day. With the agreements made in The Hague, we ensure it also becomes a pleasant place to stay, with beautiful squares and a modern bus station. This makes public transport an attractive way of traveling for even more people in Brabant. As a province, we are happy to contribute to this.”

Financial picture

All involved parties had already reserved about €200 million during previous administrative consultations in 2020, 2022, and 2023 for the necessary capacity expansion and future-proofing of this new public transport hub. This was still insufficient to fully finance the project.

During the BO-MIRT last Thursday, an additional contribution from the national government of €119.2 million was granted. Together with an additional contribution of €40.5 million from the region (municipality and province), €20 million from the railway parties (NS and ProRail), and the remaining A2 budget (€13.8 million), there is now a financial package of €393 million.

Spoorzone: continuing construction

The Spoorzone has been given the green light. The national government allocates €12 million from the area budget to further organize conditions for housing construction. This money is intended for greening, nature enhancement, and solving bottlenecks around energy and nitrogen. This allows housing construction in the Spoorzone to continue vigorously and keeps this area developing into a lively, sustainable city district.

A2: step forward

There is also positive news around the A2. The national government and region have agreed to investigate which measures are possible in the short and medium term to improve flow, accessibility, and livability along the Deil–Vught route.

Roy Geers, alderman for mobility: “That is indeed good news. Especially because livability is explicitly involved. Although large-scale expansion is not yet on the agenda, it is being looked at what can be done with a smaller budget. This puts the A2 back firmly on the national agenda.” The results of this research will follow.

Collaborating on an accessible South Netherlands

Finally, the national government, province, and region have agreed to work together on an accessible South Netherlands. This agenda focuses on structural investments in roads, rail, and other transport modes for the medium and long term until 2040. By looking at traffic and transport across municipal borders, a complete future vision emerges in which car, public transport, and bicycle reinforce each other.

“It is nice to see that it has succeeded to work from different governments with one clear goal,” explains alderman Roy Geers. “Because mobility indeed does not stop at municipal borders. We must continue to work on this together.”

For more information, visit the Bosch Central page.