Hundreds of people had to leave Eindhoven Central Station around six o’clock on Sunday evening or they were unable to enter the building. According to a spokesperson for the Dutch Railways (NS), the alarm was false and train traffic was not disrupted. After more than half an hour, the access gates were reactivated.
The spokesperson said that the alarm was accidentally activated by an employee of one of the shops in the station building. Later in the evening, rail manager ProRail reported that football supporters had smashed the glass of a fire detector in the Jumbo store. Earlier in the day, PSV and RKC Waalwijk played against each other in Eindhoven.
‘Quickly spot no calamity’
NS staff quickly realized that no calamity had occurred. Travelers or other people who had been directed outside were then informed that they were allowed back in, the NS spokesperson added. In the meantime, it was announced that the station complex should be vacated immediately.
A 112 correspondent says that until shortly before the building was released again – at least half an hour after the alarm went off – NS employees were still ordered not to enter the station. He also noticed that there were no police or other enforcers to manage the crowds. According to him, it was very busy both on the center side and on the side of the Neckerspoel bus station.
‘Deliberately no police involved’
Although NS staff quickly knew that nothing serious was going on, according to the spokesperson, the alarm continued to sound. “It took much longer than we wanted to reset the alarm,” she said. This was due to a technical malfunction. “This may have led to conflicting readings,” the spokesperson said. “The police were deliberately not called in, because it quickly became clear that it was a false alarm.”
The NS is investigating what caused the disruption to prevent a recurrence. The spokesperson finds it ‘very annoying’ for the people who have suffered from the false alarm.