Train traffic to and from Amsterdam was still flat on Monday morning. This is reported by the railway manager ProRail on its website. Also, no international trains are running to and from Amsterdam for the time being, the NS reports.
The exact cause of the malfunction is not yet known. A ProRail spokesperson said in a response NRC know that it is “busy looking for the cause.” In the search for a solution, a fallback location for the system control has now been found, in particular Utrecht, from which train traffic around the Amsterdam area can be adjusted. ProRail has “good hope” that with this solution train traffic will get going again during the day.
According to NS, the outage has a major impact on other parts of the country. When asked, the ProRail spokesperson was unable to specify the size of that impact. ProRail calls on travelers not to come to Amsterdam and the surrounding area. The railway manager advises travelers to arrange for alternative transport for their journey to school or work. It strongly recommends working from home.
Apologies
The malfunction at the air traffic control post that occurred on Sunday afternoon seemed to have been resolved for a short time. According to ProRail, the systems were reset, so that the timetable could be started, but the malfunction quickly returned. No trains ran to and from Amsterdam and Schiphol Airport station all night, and traveling to and from Utrecht Central was also not an option due to the disruption.
NS has since apologized for the disruptions in a statement. After all, many travelers did not get home and some travelers had to spend the night at the station. Night shelter was arranged in the nearby Jaarbeurs for about a hundred train passengers who were stuck at Utrecht Central Station at night due to the train malfunction. “This is not what travelers should expect from us.”, said the NS.