Everhard, Jeska (2026) Assessing the Impact of the Lelylijn on Job Accessibility for Residents of Fryslân. Bachelor thesis, Data Science and Society (DSS).
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Abstract
Transport infrastructure plays an important role in shaping accessibility to employment opportunities and influencing regional development. By reducing travel times and improving connectivity, transport investments can expand labor market access and contribute to broader economic and social outcomes. In the Netherlands, the proposed Lelylijn railway aims to strengthen connections between the Northern Netherlands and the Randstad by creating a new rail link between Groningen, Leeuwarden, and Lelystad. The project is frequently associated with ambitions related to accessibility, broad prosperity, and regional economic development. Despite these expectations, limited evidence exists regarding the likely impact of the Lelylijn on job accessibility. Research on the project has primarily focused on stakeholder perspectives and expected societal impacts, while quantitative assessments of accessibility remain scarce. As a result, uncertainty remains about how the railway could affect access to employment opportunities across Fryslân. This study addresses the question of to what extent the Lelylijn could influence job accessibility for residents of Fryslân. Using a GIS-based spatial simulation and a cumulative opportunity measure, the research shows that the implementation of the Lelylijn could increase job accessibility in Fryslân by an average of 14.21%, although effects vary considerably between neighborhoods. The largest accessibility gains are concentrated around planned station locations, particularly in Drachten and Heerenveen, while accessibility improvements become increasingly pronounced at longer travel-time thresholds. These findings support previous claims that the Lelylijn could improve access to employment opportunities by reducing travel times and strengthening connections between the Northern Netherlands and the Randstad. Unlike previous studies that primarily discussed expected impacts conceptually, this research provides a quantitative estimate of how accessibility may change across neighborhoods. Although the Lelylijn remains a proposed project, the findings suggest that it has the potential to substantially expand employment opportunities available to residents. Furthermore, this study demonstrates the value of spatial accessibility modelling for evaluating the potential accessibility effects of transport infrastructure projects before their implementation.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
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| Name supervisor: | Bouman, L. |
| Date Deposited: | 10 Jun 2026 13:12 |
| Last Modified: | 10 Jun 2026 13:12 |
| URI: | https://campus-fryslan.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/838 |
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