Dutch Train Map Simulator | Hacker News Reader

Dutch Train Map Simulator

spoorkaart.zaza.dev

77 pointszazaalaza51 comments

The Netherlands might not have the most extensive or fast rail network, but it's frequencies are pretty much unbeatable. In some places it runs more as a metro network than a heavy rail one. This visualisation shows that nicely!

Wasn't my experience, frequencies are fine but I don't think it's unbeatable at all. The default simulation is 50x speed by the way, perhaps that gave you the impression.

> but I don't think it's unbeatable at all

Based on... What exactly? The Dutch rail network is already considered the busiest network in Europe. So I'm really interested what knowledge you bring that says that it could be busier if many experts say that the busiest trajectories (look at Amsterdam - Schiphol and Amsterdam - Utrecht, for example) are at max capacity already.

Upgrading to full ERTMS can increase capacity on the Utrecht Amsterdam line. Longer platforms with longer trains. Reducing accessibility in the trains* for more seating. Less seats. Removing first class. Remove train crossing. Buy out NIMBIES. There is plenty you can do to increase passenger capacity on that line.

*) If you want to absolutely maximize passengers in a train you can reduce the number of toilets to one or switch to the peebag system the old trains had. And reduce the amount of wheelchair spots to the absolutely lawfully required amount. I’m not saying this is a good thing, just spinning some ideas to increase passenger capacity.

You're suggesting to _reduce_ accessibility?!

Japan beats Dutch train frequencies, hence it's not unbeatable.

And if you include metro rail there are plenty of more frequent rail systems including again Japan but also China, France, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea.

If I remember correctly the Tokaido Shinkansen goes every 3-4 minutes. I think the frequency on the Utrecht-Amsterdam stretch is on average 5 minutes?

Netherlands is ninth on this list by the UN, but that includes (even tinier) countries like Monaco, Luxemburg and Belgium.

So I guess the NL is about top 5-ish in the world density wise

https://w3.unece.org/pxweb/en/CountryRanking?IndicatorCode=4...

The Monaco number is a little unintuitive - it has one line running through it, but the principality's tiny physical footprint makes it look railway dense on that chart

And as far as delays go, I believe it is (or was, last I looked) nr 3 in the world, after Japan and Switzerland.

Of course, Japan's trains are world-class, but at least those are widely recognised as such. The Dutch rail network is much denser than Switzerlands, but catches a lot of flak.

(Which is not to say that it can't or shouldn't be improved, but it's also good to recognise what's going well.)

Nice.

But don’t try on mobile screen. It seems that a lot of vibe coders forget (or just skip it) to add to prompt “do a mobile version of website as well”.

As a plebeian with only a phone I was not able to use this website.

As a patrician with only a desktop I was able to use this website.

I delegated this errand to my manservant. I am quite unaware of what means of access he may have at his disposal but I trust that his resourceful nature will suffice to provide a precis of this internet website.

The desktop-owning class might do well to reflect upon its privilege.

"Desktop Site" works fine.

> It seems that a lot of vibe coders forget

So do many non-vibe coders, somehow. I dont understand why someone would make a website without mobile support in 2026, when phones are the primary device for a lot of people.

If the data gets hard to navigate on a phone.

I have a funny request laying around for a mobile version of a 5000 row 50 column table. It works on my phone but I have no idea where I am. Im thinking and testing all kinds of things but nothing looks nice and it doesn't feel pleasant.

But in most cases there is no excuse for it.

It's a lot of work for very little return, especially for a hobby or side project

I get it. In fact, managing and debugging two versions sucks.

In such cases, you can easily implement simple device detection and display “this is desktop app only”…

I just tried it on an iPhone and it worked...fine? The collapsible configuration panel has some placement issues, but otherwise the page is perfectly usable.

Secondly, it's a tosser simulation. It isn't a transit app for someone running to catch the train. Someone "vibe coded" it for novelty and they owe you, or anyone else, literally nothing.

As ucosty mentioned, "It's a lot of work for very little return". As some who made dozens of fun little web gadgets and toys that hit viral success, there is something remarkable about how entitled people get for something that literally benefitted me in absolutely no ways.

My bad. It works on mobile but I haven’t realized I need to tap the wheel to hide control panel. OP hid it by default now.

Being able to collapse the left sidebar would go a long way to improve mobile experience. Currently it's unusable on mobile.

You can collapse it by pressing the gear icon

Still covers all of Friesland and surroundings for me after collapsing

Not obvious, I switched to desktop mode to be able to see something on mobile. Suggestion: have the menu collapsed at the beginning, at least on mobile layout, then it would be much more obvious how to use it.

Very nice.

It seems the 25kV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betuweroute is missing. Although mostly used for freight and therefor no or other type of schedule, it would be nice if it was projected at least.

The design is based on the official Spoorkaart published by NS here: https://nieuws.ns.nl/spoorkaart-2026-hier-te-downloaden/

Cool view ! For France, I've built the first interactive map of all* public transports.

You just zoom on a zone and see the network (the bluish polygons) pop-up, clickable.

Representing trains, that all share a common way but with very different schedules and destinations, is hard. No map is good, all do compromises. Hence I've delayed representing trains, it's too hard.

https://cartes.app/?style=transports&gamme=urbain&filtre=lig...

* well most, those that are published in GTFS.

A proper simulator would cancel most of the trains whenever the weather changes. Dutch trains fail whenever:

* There's leaves on the rails

* It snows

* It's too cold

* It's too hot

* rand(1, 10) > 7

On top of that, there's protests and strikes.

Cancelled trains are shown in red and can be toggled off and on

As a fellow Dutchman, I agree that complaining about the NS is a very tempting thing to do. However, we should not forget that our train infrastructure is considered world class across multiple metrics, including reliability (yes really).

To recalibrate your expectations I wholeheartedly recommend taking a train ride from somewhere in Germany to anywhere else in Germany.

Just yesterday I had a 19h to 01h train travel, with multiple RE connections, failed connections as well, due to "problems" on the tracks.

I was supposed to arrive around 22h at my destination.

I guess I should be happy I arrived at all, and wasn't left stranded on a random train station until yearly today.

You just repeated an outdated meme. Go compare our punctuality statistics with our southern and eastern neighbours. Then do the rest of the world. Make sure to account for differences in definition of punctuality between providers.

Yes, delays are annoying and there are things the train companies can do better, but our system is most of all reliable enough and we are doing just fine.

The leaves things is actually kind of intresting.

It turns out that if you grind wet leaves it creates a lubricant.

Lubricating the tracks is kind of an issue if you want to stop a 80 ton train

If you're ever in the Netherlands, you HAVE to checkout Amsterdam's Lelylaan station. Absolutely beautiful.

Is this a joke? It's the worst station in Amsterdam, followed by Duivendrecht.

Maybe Gary means those red pipes? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam_Lelylaan_station#/me...

Not my taste exactly and besides that I can't see anything prettier than a dirty metro station in an image search, so indeed not sure what they mean

Edit: it's supposed to be renovated in 2028, that probably says everything. Yeah, must be some in-joke

It is a weird meme that, as far as I know, originated with this reddit post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amsterdam/comments/bt5rwl/just_got_...

Now in several forums people just randomly talk about how great Leylaan is.

Kind of a fun in-joke for people who follow Netherlands transit conversations.

Yes it's a long standing meme, mostly on reddit.

No, but check out Rotterdam Centraal, Haarlem and Groningen. Also stunning, IMHO, is Antwerp, Belgium.

A similar train map of The Netherlands that has existed for a long time, but is geographical instead of schematic, and provides a live view of trains (based on the schedule) instead of a day in the past: https://spoorkaart.mwnn.nl

Coincidentally vibe-coded a train map for North-Western Europe this morning.

It follows scheduled time, not live time, as most countries don't have live positions.

https://privatetrainplanner.ai-tigers.com/europe

Very cool. If you want to see what people have created using the Swiss public rail data checkout the showcase here: https://data.opentransportdata.swiss/showcase

Too many style options give the illusion of choice and the trains are hard to see. Curate the style for the user and then offer controls that actually are meaningful to UX of the simulation. This looks more like a map style design tool than a train simulator.

Here is the same type of map for the Swiss long distance rail network: https://network.sbb.ch/en/

Love it, maybe a filter function to only home in on certain trajectories would be cool. Anyway, great work!!

Very cool! A twist on the "generic" live map we've seen many times

why in the name of gods stroopwafel are Rotterdam and The Hague situated somewhere southwest of Drenthe?! What is Amersfoort doing on the shores of the North Sea?!

doesn't work for wide short screens (like PC)... the menu goes off below the view and there's no way to scroll

Fixing it now Edit: Fixed!

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