Ede-Wageningen station becomes a high-quality hub for the future

The challenge: new high-quality public transport hub

Ede-Wageningen station faced a need to deal with more passengers, partly as a result of the High-Frequency Rail Transport Programme, which aims to provide more trains connecting Schiphol, Utrecht, Arnhem and Nijmegen. With this project, the station also aims to become a new gateway for the Veluwe National Park, for Wageningen University & Research and for the World Food Center. Royal HaskoningDHV was commissioned to develop a design that will realise the sum of these ambitions in practice.

Passenger facilities open during renovation

All existing tracks with passenger facilities, shops, signals and safety devices had to make way for a completely new track layout that meets the desired future capacity needs. All this came together in the functional integral system design. And during the construction, the shops also had to remain open; the trains had to keep running.

The solution: a multimodal hub

Royal HaskoningDHV's integrated team of experts translated the ambitions of the clients, ProRail, NS and the municipality of Ede, into a spatial design to upgrade the station and the area around it and improve transport connections. Aesthetics, sustainability, accessibility and safety were all key pillars.

In addition to a new station building, the hub includes a passenger tunnel, new platforms a slow-traffic bridge, bicycle parking (with over 5,500 spaces), shops and catering, a bicycle and pedestrian tunnel, a new bus station and a parking garage. Architecturally, the giant yet slender, stepped wooden platform roof catches the eye.

Climate adaptation and sustainability were key elements of the design, including filtration and reuse of all rainwater, the installation of almost 300 solar panels and - as the first station of the Netherlands to do so - gas-free shop units.

Extra eyes, integral view

Royal HaskoningDHV’s specialists were the construction manager's extra pair of eyes during the works. This mainly meant monitoring the process on site and ensuring that everything was carried out according to contract and regulations, looking at it from an integrated perspective. Issues could therefore be solved on site and often immediately, resulting in a much more efficient process than repairing afterwards, at the same time increasing overall quality.

The result: beautiful, sustainable and functional

The new, high-quality public transport interchange Ede-Wageningen is an indispensable link in the mobility transition and in the future of high-frequency train traffic between Schiphol, Utrecht, Arnhem and Nijmegen, with all related transport modalities.

Thanks to the deployment of integrated and combined expertise, Royal HaskoningDHV put forward a design that links aesthetics and sustainability with functionality. The new station creates a hub for sustainable transport and forms the gateway to the nature reserves of the Veluwe National Park, but also to Wageningen University & Research and fits seamlessly into the newly developed districts around the station (Enka and Kazerne grounds). All combined, this means that the new station puts the municipalities of Ede and Wageningen on the map.

The new station is already in operation and is expected to be finally completed by 2026.

Ede-Wageningen station is a design by Mecanoo and Royal HaskoningDHV. Mecanoo developed the sketch and preliminary design (2014-2016), and Royal HaskoningDHV carried out the modified preliminary design up to and including delivery (2016-2026). Vakwerk architects ensured the aesthetic control during the realisation phase (2021 – 2025).