Kijfhoek (classification yard)
Encyclopedia
Rail yard
A rail yard, or railroad yard, is a complex series of railroad tracks for storing, sorting, or loading/unloading, railroad cars and/or locomotives. Railroad yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock stored off the mainline, so that they do not obstruct the flow of traffic....
near Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
, The Netherlands. The rail yard is named to the nearby small village Kijfhoek, now belonging to the municipality Zwijndrecht
Zwijndrecht (Netherlands)
Zwijndrecht is a city and municipality located in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is at the southern tip of the island of IJsselmonde, at the confluence of the rivers Oude Maas, Beneden-Merwede, and Noord....
. With an area of 50 hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
s Kijfhoek is the largest of the few railway yards left in the country. The rail yard has a key function in the rail network from the Port of Rotterdam
Port of Rotterdam
The Port of Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe, located in the city of Rotterdam, Netherlands. From 1962 until 2004 it was the world's busiest port, now overtaken by first Shanghai and then Singapore...
to the rest of The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
Layout
Heart of the yard is the classification bowl with 42 tracks. On each side of the classification tracks are 5 departure tracks. On the west side of the hump are 14 arrival tracks. The passenger line Rotterdam-Dordrecht and the BetuwerouteBetuweroute
The Betuweroute is a double track freight railway from Rotterdam to Germany. Betuweroute is the official name, after the Betuwe area through which it passes, but the line is popularly referred to as Betuwelijn, after an older track in the same region. The Germans have named their part the...
, a double track freight railway from the Europoort
Europoort
Europoort is an area of the Port of Rotterdam and the adjoining industrial area in the Netherlands. Being situated at the mouth of the rivers Rhine and Meuse with the hinterland consisting of the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and partly France, Europoort is by certain measurements the world's...
to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, are running north of the yard.
Betuweroute
With the realisation of the Betuweroute in 2007 Kijfhoek has a very important position in freight transport from the EuropoortEuropoort
Europoort is an area of the Port of Rotterdam and the adjoining industrial area in the Netherlands. Being situated at the mouth of the rivers Rhine and Meuse with the hinterland consisting of the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and partly France, Europoort is by certain measurements the world's...
to Germany by rail. The arrival and departure tracks are connected to the Betuweroute via fly-overs over the passenger lines. All train movements at Kijfhoek and the Betuweroute are coordinated by the Keyrail control centre at the rail yard.