Rotterdam tunnel blackout drags into second day, paralyzing southbound rail traffic

Train service south of Rotterdam remained severely disrupted Sunday as a power failure in the Willemsspoortunnel continued to block both domestic and international rail traffic for a second day, PZC reports.

NS announced Sunday morning that the outage would last at least until 2:15 p.m. The company warned travelers to expect significant delays or to postpone trips if possible.

“There are no high-speed trains running between Rotterdam and Breda,” an NS spokesperson said. “There are also no trains operating between Rotterdam and Dordrecht.”

The problem began Saturday when a power failure struck the Willemsspoortunnel due to an outage at the electricity supplier. The disruption caused major crowding at Rotterdam Centraal as passengers struggled to find alternative routes.

International services have also been heavily impacted. The Eurostar from London currently terminates in Brussels instead of continuing on to Rotterdam. “It is a very troublesome outage,” the NS spokesperson said Saturday. “International travelers have considerably longer journey times.”

Passengers traveling from the Netherlands to London must first reach Brussels using other trains, such as the Eurocity, which only departs from Breda rather than Rotterdam.

Travelers heading to Breda, Roosendaal or Zeeland are being directed to use Rotterdam Centraal’s local city transport to reach Rotterdam Zuid. From there, Sprinter trains continue to Dordrecht, where intercity trains resume.