Rijkswaterstaat | |
Rijkswaterstaat headquarters in Utrecht. | |
National agency overview | |
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Formed | 1798 |
Jurisdiction | Government of the Netherlands |
Headquarters | Utrecht, the Netherlands |
Motto | Water, wegen, werken. Rijkswaterstaat (water, roads, works. Rijkswaterstaat) |
Employees | 5001-10000 |
Annual budget | 5 000 000 000 eu |
National agency executives |
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Parent department | Ministry of infrastructure and water management |
Website | https://www.rijkswaterstaat.nl |
Rijkswaterstaat, [1] founded in 1798 as the Bureau voor den Waterstaat and formerly translated to Directorate General for Public Works and Water Management, is a Directorate-General of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management of the Netherlands. Its role is the practical execution of the public works and water management, including the construction and maintenance of waterways and roads, and flood protection and prevention. The agency was also involved in the construction of big railway projects such as the Betuweroute and the HSL-Zuid.
The mission statement of the organisation reads: "Rijkswaterstaat is de rijksdienst die werkt aan droge voeten, schoon en voldoende water én aan de vlotte en veilige doorstroming van het verkeer" (Rijkswaterstaat is the national agency that provides dry feet, clean and sufficient water and a quick and safe flow of traffic). The agency is divided in 10 regional, 6 specialist services and 2 special services.
As of 1 June 2023, the Interim director-general (DG) of Rijkswaterstaat is Patricia Zorko. [2] Since 1 January 2006, Rijkswaterstaat has been an (executive) agentschap (agency).
The Dutch word waterstaat denotes the condition of an area in relation to the level and the condition of surface and groundwater, including all relevant natural and artificial features. [3] The component 'rijks' translates as 'national'.
Rijkswaterstaat is divided into regional and specialist services, formerly known as directies. Each service is managed by a hoofdingenieur-directeur (HID), who together form the board of Rijkswaterstaat.
The regions are divided in local water- en wegendistricten (water and road districts), formerly known as dienstkringen. In the past, every province had its own regional organisation, but the directies Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe were merged, forming the service Noord-Nederland, the directies Overijssel and Gelderland were merged to form the service Oost-Nederland, the directies IJsselmeergebied and Utrecht were merged to form the service Midden-Nederland and the directies Noord-Brabant and Limburg were merged to form the service Zuid-Nederland. The following regional services exist:
Thalys was a brand name used for high-speed train services between Paris Gare du Nord via Brussels-South to either Amsterdam Centraal or to German cities in the Rhein-Ruhr, including Aachen, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Essen and Dortmund. Since 29 September 2023, the services operate under the Eurostar name; sometimes referred to as Eurostar Red, based on the colour of the trains.
The Zuid-Willemsvaart is a canal in the south of the Netherlands and the east of Belgium.
Purmerend is a city and municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The city is surrounded by polders, such as the Purmer, Beemster and the Wormer. Purmerend's population grew relatively slowly until the 1960s, when it increased from around 10,000 to over 80,000 by 2020. This expansion has turned Purmerend into a commuter town; many inhabitants work, go to school or spend leisure time in Amsterdam. Purmerend is part of the Randstad, one of the largest conurbations in Europe.
Zoetermeer is a city in the Western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of 37.05 km2 (14.31 sq mi) of which 2.60 km2 (1.00 sq mi) is water. A small village until the late 1960s, it had 6,392 inhabitants in 1950. By 2023 this had grown to 126.998, making it the fourth largest population centre in the province of South Holland, after Rotterdam, The Hague and Leiden. While now a city in its own right, Zoetermeer started out as a suburb of The Hague and is still a part of the Greater The Hague urban area.
HSL-Oost is the name of the now-cancelled high-speed railway line from Amsterdam to Germany via the Dutch cities of Utrecht and Arnhem.
Amsterdam Zuid is a railway station situated in the borough of Amsterdam-Zuid in Amsterdam, Netherlands. For a number of years, it was named Amsterdam Zuid WTC, in reference to the neighbouring World Trade Center Amsterdam. During 2006, in conjunction with the rapid development of the area surrounding the station, the station was enlarged and the reference to the WTC was formally dropped from the name.
Utrecht Centraal, officially Station Utrecht Centraal, is the transit hub that integrates three bicycle parkings, two bus stations, two tram stops and the central railway station for Utrecht, Netherlands. It is the biggest train station in the Netherlands.
Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed often abbreviated as Cultureel Erfgoed, is a Dutch heritage organisation working for the protection and conservation of National Heritage Sites. It is located in Amersfoort, province of Utrecht.
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The Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management was a Dutch ministry responsible for water management, public and private transport and infrastructure. It is now part of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.
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High-speed rail service in the Netherlands started on 13 December 2009 with the dedicated HSL-Zuid line that connects the Randstad via Brussels to the European high-speed rail network. In later years improved traditional rail sections were added to the high-speed network. Proposals for more dedicated high-speed lines were deemed too costly; plans for the HSL-Oost to Germany were mothballed and instead of the Zuiderzeelijn the less ambitious Hanzelijn was built to enable future high-speed service between the northern provinces and the Randstad.
Johannes Aleidis (Johan) Ringers was a Dutch hydraulic engineer and politician. He served as the director-general of Rijkswaterstaat and later as the director of Dutch East Indies Railways. During World War II, Ringers was appointed as the government commissioner for reconstruction, but was later interned by German forces.
Schiphol Airport station is a major passenger railway station in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands, beneath the terminal complex of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, operated by the Nederlandse Spoorwegen. The station's six platforms are accessible via twelve escalators and three elevators located in the main concourse of the airport. The original station was opened in 1978, and the current station in 1995. It connects the airport to Amsterdam and other cities in the Netherlands, as well as to Belgium and France.
The Voorne Canal is a former ship canal on Voorne-Putten in South Holland, the Netherlands. It was the first canal to connect Rotterdam to the sea. Construction of the canal started in 1826 and was completed in 1829. Until the completion of the Nieuwe Waterweg in 1872 it was the main connection from Rotterdam to the sea for ocean going ships.
The Wilhelmina Canal is a canal in North-Brabant, Netherlands. It connects Tilburg to the Meuse, and continues to the east to connect to the Zuid-Willemsvaart north of Helmond.
Wessem-Nederweert Canal is a canal connecting the Zuid-Willemsvaart at Nederweert to the Meuse near Wessem. Here it meets the wide Juliana Canal that connects to Maastricht.
Elizabeth Frederika van den Ban, known as Elze, was a Dutch urban planner and chief engineer of the Rijkswaterstaat at Zuiderzee Works where she introduced curvatures rather than straight lines into the urban planning process of polders and dikes. Van den Ban was the first woman from the Netherlands to graduate as a civil engineer in Delft, where she worked as a civil engineer.
The Zandkreekdam is a compartmentalisation dam located approximately 3 kilometres north of the city of Goes in The Netherlands, which connects Zuid-Beveland with Noord-Beveland, and separates the Oosterschelde from the Veerse Meer.