Sabotage the suspected cause of major train outage on Budget Day

The failure that disrupted train traffic across a large part of the Netherlands on Tuesday morning may have been sabotage, according to ProRail. “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,” the rail manager said. It is unclear whether the sabotage is linked to Budget Day happening in The Hague today.

“Our staff are working hard to clear these materials and make the situation safe. Wherever possible, we will resume train services as quickly as possible. We are in close contact with national emergency services and other relevant parties,” ProRail said.

The disruption started at 5:30 a.m. ProRail has detected faults in the signaling system at at least 20 different locations. As a result, it is impossible to verify whether there is a train on the track or not, making it impossible to run trains safely.

While many of the routes affected are in the eastern half of the country, the disruption is also being felt at Utrecht Centraal, the busiest train station in the Netherlands by passenger volume. Fewer NS Intercity trains are running between the central station in Utrecht and Amsterdam Bijlmer Arena.

This can then impact routes between Utrecht and Amsterdam Centraal, Schiphol Airport, and Amsterdam Zuid, as well as Sloterdijk, Hoorn, Alkmaar, and Den Helder. Fewer Sprinter trains will also run between Utrecht and Driebergen-Zeist until the situation is resolved.

“Train services around Zwolle, Deventer, and Amersfoort are the most severely affected, though disruptions are occurring elsewhere as well,” NS said. “It remains unclear how long it will take for train services to return to normal.”

A ProRail spokesperson told NOS that the priority is to restore train traffic, though they will try to leave potential evidence undisturbed as much as possible.

The central station in Utrecht is a critical hub for passenger rail service in the Netherlands. Roughly 242,000 people traveled via Utrecht Centraal on an average workday last year, including 179,500 who start or end at the station and 62,000 passengers who change trains there. By comparison, 168,500 travel to, from or via Amsterdam Centraal.

It is unclear whether the sabotage is linked to Budget Day happening in The Hague today, but the resulting disruptions did thwart many travelers' plans to attend. “We looked at the big display board and thought: Oh no,” Linda, a fan of the Royal Family, told Omroep Gelderland from a station in Apeldoorn. Arriving hours late was not an option. “You wouldn’t get a spot; all the barriers close at 10:00 a.m., and then you’re stuck at the back and can’t see a thing.”

Sabotage also disrupted train traffic during the NATO summit in The Hague last year.