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DESCRIPTION
The Hague tram opened in 1864 (initial horse tram); steam tram-cars were introduced in 1879, before the complete electrification (1890). The tram network was extended in 1927 (Gare HS-port de Scheveningen).
The current tram network consists in 12 lines; Lines 3, 4 (as well as Rotterdam metro Line E, which also serve The Hague central railway station) are part of the so-called RandstadRail network (Lines 3 and 4 run to Zoetermeer on a former suburban railway; Line E runs to Rotterdam on the old Hofpleinlijn, which is now connected with the Rotterdam metro system). RandstadRail links Rotterdam, The Hague and Zoetemeer, partly through existing railways tracks (Den Haag-Zoetermeer and Den Haag-Pijnacker-Rotterdam) and partly through new connections to The Hague tram and Rotterdam metro systems.
The first phase of Randstadrail was completed on October-November 2006, even if some technical problems (causing derailements) brought a temporary partial interruption and limitation of the service, in order to analyze the causes and take the idoneous measures. In The Hague the railway line Den Haag-Zoetermeer has been connected to the existing tram network by a new viaduct (the so-called "Netkous" running along Beatrixlaan), while a new underground section (the so-called "Souterrain", completed in 2004; it runs under Grote Marktstraat and includes two underground stations: Grote Markt and Spui) connects the central railway station to city centre.
Even if the Randstadrail system reuses existing railway infrastructures, it is disconnected from the national railway system, without any real tram-train/track-sharing operations.