The Hofpleinlijn was one of the two railways between the Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 cities of The Hague

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

 and 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...

. In 2006 it was converted to metro-like operation as RandstadRail line E.

History

The Zuid-Hollandsche Electrische Spoorweg-Maatschappij (ZHESM) company was founded in 1900 to build electric railway lines in the province of South Holland

South Holland

South Holland is a province situated on the North Sea in the western part of the Netherlands. The provincial capital is The Hague and its largest city is Rotterdam.South Holland is one of the most densely populated and industrialised areas in the world...

. Their first railway line connected Den Haag Hollands Spoor station

Den Haag Hollands Spoor railway station

The Den Haag Hollands Spoor railway station, also known as Den Haag HS, is the oldest railway station in The Hague, Netherlands. It was opened in 1843, when the Amsterdam–Haarlem railway, the oldest railway line in the country, was extended to The Hague. This line was further extended to Rotterdam...

 with the sea side resort of Scheveningen. This line opened with steam locomotives on May 1, 1907, and was electrified in 1909.

Its second line connected The Hague with Rotterdam. It opened in 1908, and was the first electrified railway line in the Netherlands. The terminus in Rotterdam was Rotterdam Hofplein station

Rotterdam Hofplein railway station

Rotterdam Hofplein, located in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, is a former railway station as well as a former RandstadRail station. It was the terminus of the former Hofpleinlijn with services between Rotterdam and Scheveningen, later between Rotterdam and The Hague central station...

, which gives the line its name.

The ZHESM was not connected to the main railway network in the Rotterdam area, which meant that it never had more than local significance. In 1953 the line to Scheveningen closed. The line between The Hague and Hofplein was conerted to metro-lke operation in 2006. Hofplein station was closed in 2010, when a tunnel connected the line to the Rotterdam Metro

Rotterdam Metro

The Rotterdam Metro is a rapid transit system operated in Rotterdam and surrounding municipalities by RET. The first line, called Noord - Zuidlijn opened in 1968 and ran from Centraal Station to Zuidplein, crossing the river Nieuwe Maas in a tunnel. It was the first metro system to open in the...

 at Rotterdam Central Station.