The sign says Oude Spoorbaan which means 'Old rail track'. Here used to be a railroad from Gouda to Rotterdam (Maas). It's long gone now.
The new track is a few hundred meters north on a dike. There were three reasons to move the railroad.
1. Rotterdam Maas was a terminus. Short after the old track was finished (1855-1858) it was already thought better if all trains would stop at the same station. Trains coming from Utrecht and Gouda should therefore be redirected all around the city.
2. The old track was built upon the soft peatland which caused trouble and a lot of maintainance. For the new track they first removed the peat soil and the dike was placed right on top of the much stronger layer of clay underneath.
3. During the 1940 bombing Rotterdam Maas station was destroyed. It turned out to be the starting point for the realization of the new plans.
@overalvandaan thank you for the lovely words. The research sometimes needed is a thing I really like about those photo moments. I didn't know a thing about this track myself.
