Rotterdam tunnel power outage halts southbound trains, sparks international delays

A major power failure Saturday afternoon in Rotterdam’s Willemsspoortunnel disrupted all train traffic south of the city, causing significant delays for both domestic and international travelers, RTL reports. According to a spokesperson for NS, no trains were running between Rotterdam Centraal and Rotterdam Zuid, with the disruption expected to last at least until 6 p.m.

“It is a very troublesome outage,” the NS spokesperson said. “International travelers are facing considerably longer journey times.”

The power failure forced Eurostar services to alter their routes. Passengers traveling from the Netherlands to London could no longer board the Eurostar directly in Rotterdam. Instead, they had to take other trains, such as the Eurocity, to Brussels. Normally, the Eurocity departs from Rotterdam and Breda to Brussels, but now boarding was only possible in Breda.

The Eurostar from London terminated its journey in Brussels instead of continuing to Rotterdam. The Eurostar from Paris was rerouted via Den Bosch and Utrecht.

Travelers bound for Breda, Roosendaal, or Zeeland also faced detours. They were advised to use city transport from Rotterdam Centraal to reach Rotterdam Zuid. From there, Sprinter trains to Dordrecht were available, where intercity services resumed.

NS said the timeline for restoring full tunnel operations was uncertain. “ProRail says it is difficult to forecast how long it will take to get the tunnel operational again,” the spokesperson said. “It could also take longer.”