Ringspoorbaan or ring railway is a railway line at Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

, 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...

, consisting of a South-eastern branch Zuidtak, and a Western branch Westtak. A number of metro lines also connect stations on the Ringspoorbaan.

History

While inchoate plans for the ring had been in place for many decades. Parts of it, including several bridges, were built during the recession of the 1930s, when dikes were constructed to provide employment opportunities. However, the ring railway became truly feasible after the Schiphol line opened in 1978. This line provided limited connectivity to Amsterdam RAI railway station

Amsterdam RAI railway station

The railway station Amsterdam RAI is situated in southern Amsterdam, The Netherlands. It lies between the two directions of the A10 Amsterdam ring road. It is also a metro station at which GVB operates two routes...

, but there was a need to connect to central Amsterdam. The southern segment (Zuidtak) connecting to Weesp railway station became operational in 1993. In 1995, with the completion of the Westtak, direct movement became possible from Schiphol to Amsterdam Centraal.

The Ringspoorbaan was also used for handling traffic to the South. However, with the opening of the Utrechtboog

Utrechtboog

The Utrechtboog is a flyover railway line in the south-east of Amsterdam, completed in March 2006, that directly connects Utrecht and Schiphol. After completion, it reduced journey times between the two by seven minutes. Prior to its construction, passengers travelling this route were required to...

 (Utrecht

Utrecht (city)

Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...

 arc) connection in 2006, some of the functionality of the Zuidtak Ringspoorbaan have been diluted, and services were reduced to some junctions such as Duivendrecht

Duivendrecht railway station

The Duivendrecht railway station is a combined rail and metro station in Duivendrecht, Netherlands. The station opened in May 1993 as part of the extension of the Zuidtak of the Amsterdam Ringspoorbaan, between Amsterdam RAI and Weesp....

.