‘Come on, let’s go pee now. We still have five minutes to catch our train. Otherwise we won’t be able to go to the toilet for another hour.’ Leonoor Butoh has been a conductor at the NS for four years, but she now experiences the consequences of the staff shortage almost daily. It is a code of honor for drivers and conductors not to use the passenger toilet. So she has to hurry now. Normally the breaks are 20 to 30 minutes, now the seconds are ticking away. The train will leave Amersfoort in a minute. Sandwich, cigarette, toilet visit: Butoh’s regular ritual is increasingly under threat.
‘Due to a lack of staff, fewer trains are running.’ Passengers read the NS warning at all stations in the Netherlands. And it is noticeable. Trains that run are overcrowded and sometimes have a much longer travel time. Or they suddenly fall out completely. It leads to a flood of complaints.
The NS has eleven hundred vacancies. The railway company is forced to cancel the timetable this summer, although according to Bert Groenewegen, the temporary successor of the CEO Marjan Rintel who left for KLM on 1 July, 95 percent of the trains will continue to run. The work pressure is sometimes unacceptably high, according to the unions. ‘It is no longer taken for granted in the workplace’, says Henri Janssen director of FNV Spoor. Last week, the union already called on the NS to structurally ‘scale down’, in other words: use fewer trains to relieve the workload.
The Dutch Railways (NS) just got back on track after the corona crisis, when it lost 80 to 90 percent of its travelers. In 2020, the transport company recorded a record loss of 2.6 billion euros, in 2021 another 1.1 billion. The NS received almost a billion euros in state aid. To save costs, 2,300 jobs were cut through natural attrition, although the NS offered a job guarantee until 2025. ‘You can draw a parallel with the chaos at Schiphol’, says a conductor, who wishes to remain anonymous. ‘You can’t take the cheese slicer over your organization forever.’
During a tour of the NS you hear the same cry for help everywhere. The planners, the schedulers, the trainers and the conductors feel that they are in a vicious circle. “We just can’t get it done.”
The planners: Formula 1 and a full Johan Cruijff Arena, that’s not possible
Who will get priority at the beginning of September, the Formula 1 enthusiasts or the football fans? The Network Design and Development (NO) department of the NS is thinking about it. Twelve trains an hour from Amsterdam to the Formula 1 in Zandvoort is already a hellish task. Last year, due to the corona measures, the capacity was still at 70 thousand, now 110 thousand visitors are allowed to come to the circuit in September. And so the NS already requested the KNVB to move Ajax-Cambuur (September 6) or to have the game played in Leeuwarden. Hazenkamp: ‘We won’t get another 50 thousand visitors out of the Johan Cruijff Arena that evening.’
But the problem is broader. ‘September and October are our peak months, but even then the problems have not been solved,’ warns Thijs van Daalen of NO. ‘In those months, the staff shortage will be the most pressing.’ Van Daalen speaks of a dilemma that touches the heart of NS. “Every train we cut hurts. You see the number of travelers increasing rapidly after the corona crisis. We are now at 80 percent of pre-pandemic numbers. Huge growth is expected from 2024, 2025. This year we want to get people back on the train, but the stretch is out due to the staff shortage.’
And so it becomes more and more difficult to put the puzzle together. There are insufficient buses available for travelers on the Den Bosch – Utrecht route, where work will start at Culemborg from Thursday. Avoid this route, is the advice. The extra night trains for the Four Days Marches in Nijmegen cause staff shortages during the day. ‘It’s a struggle’, sighs Van Daalen. ‘Leaving less trains running is the last resort.’
The service schedulers: The traditional ‘texting bomb’ doesn’t help anymore
The new schedule is announced every Thursday at the head office in Utrecht, but not all services can be ‘set’ yet. The Utrecht region is struggling with a significant absenteeism due to illness: 23 percent of the conductors cannot be deployed. Service planner Edward Kok has noticed to his frustration that the traditional ‘texting bomb’ to mobilize personnel is no longer sufficient.
‘The enormous absenteeism due to illness makes the pressure on the others even greater. Despite the extra fee, they don’t come anymore. Logical if you have to jump in somewhere every day. Everyone knows that we commit looting in the workplace. I also see drivers and conductors walking on their gums. But what do you want?’
Kok points to his computer. He was unable to complete seven shifts for Saturday, but five early shifts are still open for Monday. The schedules have become a headache file. The Adjustment department is working overtime, canceling trains is unavoidable. Kok: ‘It also feels like a defeat for us.’
The trainers: too few drivers, but also too few instructors
As a trainer of new operators, René Kist knows that all eyes are on him. He must eventually deliver 400 of these to the simulator center in Amersfoort, but the training takes 1 to 2 years on average. Here too, the pressure is more than palpable, says Kist. ‘Machinists don’t automatically roll off the assembly line.’
Age does not count at NS. Kist has already retrained a 59-year-old former pilot to become a machinist, as well as a 17-year-old girl. Some drivers drive a train even though they do not yet have a driver’s license. As if Max Verstappen is exploring a new circuit from behind the simulator, the NS student drives from Schiphol to Utrecht. Signals, rain and fog; everything can be imitated.
But the labor shortage is also a threat in Amersfoort. Former engineer Kist is short of instructors. The Basic Learning Path for Machinists (BLM) has already been adjusted, we work in larger groups. ‘Unfortunately, we cannot deploy too many drivers as mentors, even though they are needed. Sometimes we also have too few simulators for the students, which is worrying. The limit of what we can still account for is coming into view.’
Due to the new rail safety system, some 3,500 drivers will have to be retrained from 2023. ‘That’s on top of that,’ says Kist. FNV Spoor speaks of a ‘clearance’ in the training. Kist points to the unchanged exam requirements. ‘We make no concessions in that regard.’
The conductors: ‘The base salary should be raised’
At 45, Leonoor Butoh made a career switch. She used to be an executive secretary, now as chief conductor she has the best view in the Netherlands in her unmanned cabin. But her current profession is physically demanding. ‘Walk along,’ says Butoh, when the train leaves Amersfoort. The train bumps over the switches from left to right, the conductor sometimes struggles to keep her balance. ‘Do you feel it? It’s an assault on your back and your knees.’
FNV Spoor intervenes for Butoh and her colleagues. The increased workload due to the staff shortage justifies a better collective labor agreement, says FNV director Janssen. But the negotiations are deadlocked. The unions find an 8 percent pay increase for 30 months completely insufficient. ‘That’s 3.2 percent on an annual basis, so far below the sky-high inflation.’
Janssen especially denounces the ‘return thinking’ that, according to him, was introduced under the direction of Marjan Rintel. ‘The staff shortage has been there for years, the current problems are partly the result of bad policy.’ After five days, the FNV is ‘negotiated’. The other unions are also digging in the sand. FNV director Janssen sees it gloomy. ‘There are no negotiators at NS, but buyers at the table. I also miss a real ‘deal maker’, someone who dares to force a breakthrough.’ The NS management does not want to comment on the stalled negotiations.
Leonoor Butoh is a conductor and a source of information in the station, because the service point of the NS is closed. ‘NS must really dare to invest in its people’, says Butoh. After another cigarette and a pee, she blows her whistle. ‘We do people work, we guarantee people’s safety. The conductor is the binding factor, without a decent break you walk through the train differently. We now have to focus mainly on the allowances, the base salary should be raised.’ Moments later, her voice comes through the intercom. ’17 hours 46, we left Enschede on time.’
An unprecedented turning point in the labor market
For the first time since the CBS measurements started, there are more vacancies than unemployed. The Netherlands seems to have been completely taken by surprise by the staff shortage. Where does that come from?