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Train services across a large part of the northern and eastern Netherlands were thrown into chaos on Tuesday morning by what the rail manager ProRail believes was an act of sabotage, on the same day as Prinsjesdag, the country’s Budget Day, in The Hague.
What happened
“Materials deliberately placed on the tracks have been found at multiple locations. This is causing signal block failures. It appears to be a case of sabotage,” ProRail said. The disruption started around 5:30am, with signalling system faults found at over 20 locations. The faults are serious: the system can no longer verify whether a train is on a given section of track, making it impossible to run trains safely.
ProRail said its staff were working to clear the materials and make the situation safe, resuming services where possible, and that it was in close contact with the national emergency services. A spokesperson said the priority was to get trains running again, while trying to leave any potential evidence undisturbed.
Where it hit
The worst-affected services were around Zwolle, Deventer and Amersfoort, in the east of the country, though disruption was felt more widely. It also reached Utrecht Centraal, the busiest railway station in the Netherlands, where fewer intercity trains ran towards Amsterdam. Since Utrecht is such a central hub, this had knock-on effects on connections to Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport and beyond. NS said it was unclear how long services would take to return to normal.
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A link to Budget Day?
The obvious question is whether the sabotage was timed to coincide with Prinsjesdag, when the government presents its budget, and the King addresses parliament in The Hague. ProRail said it was not clear whether the two were connected. What is clear is that the disruption upset the plans of many people hoping to travel to the capital for the occasion. “We looked at the big display board and thought: Oh no,” one member of the public told the regional broadcaster Omroep Gelderland from a station in Apeldoorn, explaining that arriving hours late would have meant missing the event entirely.
Whatever the motive, sabotage on the rail network is not unheard of in the Netherlands. Train traffic was also disrupted by sabotage during the NATO summit in The Hague last year, an incident Dutch police described as state-sponsored arson.
What travellers should do
This is a developing situation. Travellers in the affected regions should check their journey before setting out and expect continued disruption through the day, as it is not yet known when normal service will resume.