Zeeland and North Brabant are better connected through a direct train service. This was celebrated on December 15 at the station in Vlissingen. The Dutch Railways (NS) extended the train connection between Vlissingen and Roosendaal once per hour to Zwolle. This eliminates the transfer in Roosendaal for travelers going from Zeeland to Breda or other Brabant cities and vice versa. Travelers benefit from a more comfortable journey and better accessibility of Zeeland.
The Province of Zeeland has long advocated for a direct connection with Breda, Tilburg, Den Bosch and beyond. Deputy Harry van der Maas (Public Transport) is very pleased with the improvement: “We are very satisfied with this direct connection. Travelers between Zeeland and Brabant previously always had to transfer in Roosendaal and it was often difficult to catch that connection. The new direct train connection is a major improvement for the accessibility of Zeeland.”
Timetable
From Vlissingen, trains now run to Amsterdam (twice per hour) and Roosendaal (once per hour). The latter will soon continue via the Brabant cities to Zwolle. The new train connection will be evaluated after three years. In addition, it is being investigated whether a fourth train can run in Zeeland to further optimize the connection with the rest of the Netherlands.
Better accessibility of Zeeland
The train is important for accessibility in Zeeland, now and in the future. Improving accessibility is also one of the ambitions in the Zeeland 2050 future perspective. Last year, the Province of Zeeland, NS, infrastructure manager ProRail and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management agreed on the new timetable: Zeeland gets direct connection with Brabant cities and Zwolle. The connection was made possible through the investment package ‘Wind in the Sails’. This package focuses on strengthening the socio-economic structure of Zeeland, where accessibility is an important part.