Following the Japanese Shinkansen high-speed trains example, the intercity trains will get a fully dedicated infrastructure, including own tracks in stations. The IC Network with 9 separate corridors for intercities will be a new third spine in public transport train system.
The trains will still call at all the current intercity stations, but the frequency and reliability of the schedule will be higher due to the corridor system.
Unfortunately, high speed trains make no sense to the Netherlands due to the short distances between stations. With minimal distances of 100km many cities would have to be passed-by. High speed sounds nice, but we think that trains should take passengers aboard instead of flying past them.
Luckily, Germany and Japan do have a better and faster system that is suitable for our country. We want deploy that in order to significantly reduce the national travel times between all cities with intercity stations.
Vehicles
Having a dedicated intercity network also gives the freedom to choose rolling stock which is wider than fits on the currently existing loading gauge. The vehicle width can accommodate 2 x 3 seating. However, we use the extra space to offer the passengers more comfort, space for larger luggage (important for airport travelers!) and/or folding bikes.
The transport of air containers is also taken into account, in order to cater for baggage handling of transferring airline passengers.
An concept of the seating configuration. The seating configuration will be further refined.
