The Meppel–Groningen railway is an important railway line in the Netherlands

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...

 running from Meppel

Meppel

Meppel is a municipality and a city in the northeast of the Netherlands, in the south-west of the province Drenthe.It developed in the 16th century as a transport and distribution inland harbour for turf...

 to Groningen, passing through Hoogeveen

Hoogeveen

Hoogeveen is a municipality and a town in the northeastern Netherlands.- Population centres :Elim, Fluitenberg, Hoogeveen and Noordscheschut, which still have the canals which used to be throughout the town...

 and Assen

Assen

Assen is a municipality and a city in the north eastern Netherlands, capital of the province of Drenthe. It received city rights in 1809. Assen's main claim to fame is the TT Circuit Assen the motorcycle racing circuit, where on the last Saturday in June the Dutch TT is run...

. The line was opened in 1870. It is also known as the Staatslijn

Staatslijn

A Staatslijn is a railway that was established as a result of the railway law passed on 18 August 1860 by the State in the Netherlands. 10 of these lines were built...

"C".

Stations

The main interchange stations on the Meppel–Groningen railway are:

• Meppel
  Meppel railway station
  Meppel is a railway station in Meppel, The Netherlands. The station opened on 1 October 1867 and is on the Arnhem–Leeuwarden railway and Meppel–Groningen railway. The services are operated by Nederlandse Spoorwegen....
  
  : to Utrecht
  Utrecht
  Utrecht is a city in the Netherlands.The name may also refer to:* Utrecht , of which Utrecht is the capital* Utrecht , including the city of Utrecht* Bishopric of Utrecht* Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht...
  
  , Zwolle
  Zwolle
  Zwolle is a municipality and the capital city of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands, 120 kilometers northeast of Amsterdam. Zwolle has about 120,000 citizens.-History:...
  
   and Leeuwarden
• Groningen
  Groningen railway station
  Groningen is the main railway station in Groningen, the Netherlands. In Groningen, the station is also called Hoofdstation. The station opened on 1 June 1866 and is on the Harlingen–Nieuweschans railway. The first building was a temporary structure outside the former fortifications. In 1870, with...
  
  : to Leeuwarden, Delfzijl
  Delfzijl
  Delfzijl is a municipality and city in the northeast of the Netherlands. It is situated on the left bank of the river Ems estuary, which forms the border with Germany.-Population centres:...
  
   and Nieuweschans
  Nieuweschans
  Bad Nieuweschans is a town in the Dutch province of Groningen. It is located in the municipality of Oldambt, about 12 km east of Winschoten. In April 2009 the municipality of Reiderland changed the name from Nieuweschans, to promote the town as a spa...
  
  

History

The Westerbork concentration camp had its own branch line from the Meppel–Groningen railway, branching off at the former Hooghalen

Hooghalen

Hooghalen is a town in the Dutch province of Drenthe. It is a part of the municipality of Midden-Drenthe, and lies about 9 km south of Assen....

 railway station. In the 1970s, the railway was the scene of two train hijackings by South-Moluccans

Maluku Islands

The Maluku Islands are an archipelago that is part of Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone...

: in 1975 at Wijster

1975 Dutch train hostage crisis

On December 2, 1975, seven South Moluccan terrorists seized a train with about 50 passengers on board in open countryside near the village of Wijster, halfway between Hoogeveen and Beilen in the northern part of the Netherlands. The hijacking lasted for 12 days and three hostages were killed.The...

, and in 1977 at De Punt

1977 Dutch train hostage crisis

On May 23, 1977 a train hijacking took place close to Drentsche Aa river bridge at de Punt on the provincial border between Groningen and Drenthe, northeastern Netherlands. Nine armed Moluccans pulled the emergency brake around 9 AM and took about 50 people as hostages...

.