An association concerned about the disappearance of railway lines that cross borders in Europe, has started a petition to revive the train connection between Nijmegen and Kleef, in Germany. Reactions from the university have been positive so far.

Taking the train from Nijmegen to the German student city of Kleef, right across the border? The railway tracks are already there, but they have been unused for years. That is why the Vereniging voor Innovatief Euregionaal Vervoer (VIEV, Association for innovative euregional transport) has started a petition to revive the train connection between the two cities.

The petition follows the news that German railway company Arriva takes over the connection between Nijmegen and Roermond. Right now, the diesel trains from the Veolia company still ride on that line. Arriva invests a lot of money in this project and has enough budget to re-open the connection with Kleef. ‘A new switch and a makeover for the tracks is all that is necessary to take students from Nijmegen to Kleef in twenty minutes,’ says VIEV chairman Maurice Niesten. With the current public transport, this takes an hour.

Because of ‘administrative ignorance’ at the province government, the railway line has been ignored for years, according to Niesten, even though the line would open up a lot of new possibilities. For example for the Dutch-German study programmes, or just for student who would like to go bar hopping in Kleef for a night.

The German hinterland

Paul Sars, German language and culture professor, thinks that the line will be an enrichment for Radboud University. ‘Students and employees will travel between universities easily. Someone who attends a university of applied science in Kleef could take a minor at Radboud University and start their master’s here later.

On top of that, the new connection offers possibilities in the rest of Germany. ‘We could have a more direct connection with other German cities, like Duisburg and Cologne. This creates further development for the Euregion Rhine – Waal. At the moment, the train to Duisburg goes via Arnhem and Emmerik, a huge detour, or you could take the slow Veolia train past Venlo. That could go a lot faster when you travel via Kleef.’

The Radboud University executive board also thinks the connection would be an improvement. ‘It is important that the campus is attainable and a connection to Kleef helps with that’, says spokesman Martijn Gerritsen. ‘On top of that, it would be a pity when a student in Kleef is not able to enroll in a master’s programme here because of transportation.’ / Maarten van Gestel and Gijs Swennen